Floaters
by howmoriartystolechristmas
Summary: Having a clown kill people is just... really inconvenient, you know? But ironically, it led to Susie Fellows making friends for life in the Losers, and apart from the near-death experiences, and actual dead kids, it was a pretty great summer. UPDATE: Final chapter uploaded.
1. Chapter 1

Chapter 1

Derry's theatrical department was nothing but tumbleweeds and junkies 99% of the time, but once a year, right before summer break, the hustle and bustle arrived. The annual 4th of July parade was accompanied with an evening production done by the schoolkids.

Most kids ignored this as they did everything else, but a select few group of kids lived for it. Susie Fellows was one such kid. Failing grades gave way to a deep love of the stage this time every year, and although the music director's choice this year was a little odd, she had finally gotten a decent role, so she'd just have to suck it up.

For a pretty uptight small town, The Crucible was a risk to even suggest, but it was only a few weeks before Susie would take the stage as Abigail – the leading lady, as it were – and she couldn't bring herself to worry about what Derry would think of the witch-hunt play.

But right now, Susie was in physics, and she forced herself to reconnect to the barely-intelligible stream of dialogue that was Mr. Matheson's explanation of forces and work. Harold Matheson wasn't a particularly bad person, on the contrary, Susie wouldn't mind him at all as a _person_ , except he was a horrific teacher. Normally a bright but unmotivated student, this was the one class that Susie didn't get worse at when she started working on the yearly production. No, her grades in physics couldn't get worse than what they actually already were by the time spring rolled around.

Craning her head around to glance at the clock, she locked eyes with a familiar face. Dan, who worked on the set pieces for the play this year. He was a lot younger than her, and the rest of the people in this class, but they were all idiots and he was kind of a genius. From what Susie knew of him, half the classes he took were ones recommended for people her age, because he was so studious. Susie blinked and realized he was staring at her. She gave him a smile, still half-turned around in her seat, and he awkwardly gestured towards her hair. Once she shoved a hand in it, she realized the choppy brown locks were sticking up all over the place. Scraping her fingers through her bob, pushing past all the clumps of knots, she acknowledged maybe she had fallen asleep in this class again. It did happen often, to be fair. Dan smiled at her dazed expression, and turned back to Mr. Matheson's drawling monotone. He raised a hand.

"Yes?" The teacher brightened up at the first sign of activity the class had given this whole hour.

"Oh, um, would the answer be 17 Pascal's?" Daniel looked nervous, scratched the back of his curly head, even though the rest of the class knew he'd be right.

"That's correct, Stan!" Oh, fuck. Susie had had entire conversations with him, and she was certain she must've called him Dan on multiple occasions. "Glad to see we have someone listening today!" With Mr. Matheson, he wasn't even being sarcastic. He looked overjoyed.

Unfortunately, his high streak ended as quickly as Stan created it, because the bell's shrill tone sounded, and a rush of students ran past him and out the door.

Before he could leave, although he wasn't nearly as in a rush as his classmates, Susie grabbed Stan's elbow and stopped him just outside the classroom. He seemed surprised, but waited for her to say something.

She sighed. "So, this is kind of an important day for me, because I, uh, I just realized-"

"My name isn't Dan?" He finished the sentence for her, with a shy grin on his face, and Susie let out a relieved chuckle.

"So sorry about that, Stan. But why didn't you correct me?"

He let out a sheepish grin. "My friend Richie made me a bet to see how long it'd take you to realize. Would you still be calling me Dan by the time the 4th of July festival is over, that sort of thing."

Susie nodded slowly. "Two twelve-year-old boys bet on how long it would take me, a sixteen-year old, to realize I was calling someone by the completely wrong name. That's just…wonderful."

He let out a laugh. "We're, uh, we're thirteen and fourteen, actually."

She looked at him warily. "That's not a bet, too, is it? Me continuously being wrong about you?" She sighed when he shook his head no. "Well, at any rate, my raging stupidity has meant I still know almost nothing about you. Let's have lunch together, Stan, and you can help me right some wrongs. And I want to meet this Richie of yours, betting on my misfortunes."

Stan seemed taken aback, but grinned at her. "I'll see you at lunch, then," he called out as he followed the crowds of shouting kids towards his next class."

Susie paused for a second, her mind still catching up with her. "Wait, Stan!"

He turned, questioning.

"Who won the bet? Who said I would find out before the play?" Without a word, Stan pulled out the fabric of the pockets in his shorts, revealing them to be empty, and shrugged. He turned back around and walked away as Susie stood there with her mouth open, shaking her head in disbelief.

Susie found herself late to Spanish, which actually sucked, because she happened to love the class and be scared shitless of the teacher. Señora Ramírez should've retired a long time ago; truth be told, she should've died of old age a long time ago, but the vultures just didn't want to swoop down. Her death glare as Susie walked in the room made her legs shake as she sat down, avoiding eye-contact at all costs. The girl sitting next to her, Jenny, nudged her foot and passed a folded-up piece of refill paper without looking at her.

Opened up, it said: **'sleepover' tonight – yours – 9pm xxx**

Quickly and quietly, before anyone else caught sight of it, Susie stuffed the note in her pocket, trying to calm her racing heart.

Jenny had a grin on her face as she joined the class in reciting the Spanish months of the year.

Sitting with Stan's group of friends made Susie feel both shocked and embarrassed. Shocked, because it seemed none of the boys were remotely like each other yet the four seemed inseparable, and embarrassed, because sitting with four thirteen-year-old boys made her feel vaguely like a child predator.

"…but then it was like you honestly didn't even know, so here I am thinking, hey, let's make a quick buck off this, only it wasn't a quick buck because it's been like over a month, and I was getting real worried that you were actually retarded or something-"

"R-R-Richie!"

"And anyway, it's definitely not the easiest ten bucks I've made, I'll tell you that, and it was so tempting to walk up to you when I saw you in the hallways and just give it away so that I'd win, but I-"

Susie scoffed. "Wait a minute, you bet _ten dollars_ that I would call you Dan until the 4th of July? Stan…" What started out as a firm telling-off faded uncertainly into nothing. The four boys looked at her with varying levels of confusion. "I, uh, was going to use your full name to complain, but…"

"You don't know it?" Stan questioned innocently, and Richie collapsed onto the cafeteria table shaking with laughter.

She turned to Eddie, the only one in the group thus far that had stayed silent. "You're the only reasonable one here, Eddie. The only one that doesn't make me feel like an idiot."

His face crumpled in thought, chewing quietly on his sandwich. Once he had finished, he took a long, hard look at Richie, still wiping tears away from under his glasses, and Stan and Bill, both thoroughly enjoying the discourse, and finally stared at her. "Two people at this table bet actual hard-earned cash on how long you'd call Stan by the wrong name, and waited like six weeks for it instead of actually correcting you. So yeah, don't worry, because you aren't the stupidest person at the table today."

Stan solemnly nodded. "That's fair."

When the bell went for the last class of the day, Susie had made a bunch of new friends. She had stolen one of Eddie's pens and scribbled her home phone number four times on a napkin and ripped it into pieces for the boys, and they passed around another and did the same for her. She shoved it in her pocket, feeling the scratch of the other piece of paper already in there, and stood up. "Last day, tomorrow, boys. Hang in there." As the group broke up and went their separate ways, Susie to social studies, Stan and Bill to maths, Eddie to geography and Richie to history, summer was on all of their minds.

Social Studies was a rare, unappreciated gem at Derry High School. In fact, so few actually took the subject that they ended up combining years together just to get enough students in seats for a full class. This led to Susie learning about politics, American society, and economics in the company of boys and girls from the ages of 14-16. One Ben Hanscom had joined the school only a few weeks previously, and was put into Susie's group for their research project on modern American towns and provinces. With the rest of the group being totally uninterested in actual work of any kind, Ben had spent many afternoons with Susie at one of their houses, or more commonly, the public library, doing research and building their model of buildings in a rural town. The square plank of wood on which a water tower with an American flag, a few small trees, and a few farm animals stood became Ben's pride and joy, as flimsy as it was.

They sat together, separate from the rest of the group, near the back of the class, idly chatting as their teacher, Miss. Warren, got a projector set up for the weekly quiz.

"They put it on every year and it's always loads of fun. You should come!"

"Thanks, but I'm not really a theatre person."  
Susie gasped dramatically. "Ben Hanscom! How can you say that? Friendship cancelled, buddy. It's over. Moment of silence for the funeral of a friend. He's not dead, but he's dead to me. Rest in peace."

He smiled awkwardly. Ben always seemed a little slow to quick wit. He had such a heart of gold that it slowed him down sometimes, at least that was Susie's theory. He got so much crap from the school about being new, and being fat, that maybe he couldn't really tell the difference between humour and insult. Susie regretted joking around like that, and quickly fumbled to cheer him up again. "Well, anyhow, looks like we didn't need to worry about having the assignment done in time. Miss Warren is going to be trying to get that projector to work until the day she dies. Or until the day _it_ dies, I suppose. That projectors got to be older than Derry itself."

"Maybe it can tell us what happened to the beaver hunting community. Mystery solved."

It was so rare for Ben to make a joke, and even when he did, it was in his own little nerdy way, but those few moments of wit were worth more than their weight in gold, and Susie found herself cracking up as Miss Warren began yelling at the projector and hitting its side.

"That's an interesting interrogation method, that's for sure." Susie smiled, leaning back in her chair to watch the drama unfold.

"Hey, Susie?"

"Yeah, Ben?"

He paused, then. His palms were leaving shadows of sweat on the laminated desk and his face was dead-serious. "Maybe, I was thinking, we could go to the festival together?"

Susie knew what he was asking, and luckily, she had an out, to say no without upsetting him. "I'd love to, but being in the play I'll be caught up in rehearsals all day. We could hang out another time, maybe? I'm sorry, Ben."

The disappointment and slight shame on Ben's face made her heart break, but she was saved from hearing his response by the teacher finally calling the class to attention for the quiz to start.

She felt his eyes on and off her the whole class.

It was twenty minutes before 9 that Jenny began throwing stones at Susie's window. It would've been more romantic had Susie not been living in a one-story house. Jenny, beautiful Jenny, was standing outside, red hair in a ponytail, and though it was so late, and windy, wearing a Coca Cola t-shirt and jean shorts.

Susie lifted her window, and leant out. "Shatter the glass, why don't you?"

Jenny gave her a soft kiss. "I think what you meant by that was, Oh Romeo, wherefore art thou Romeo?"

"Get in, smart-ass." Jenny's responding laugh was magical, and by the time they fell asleep, which was much later than now, they were curled up together, curtains shut and bedroom door locked.

The next morning, Susie woke up alone, but the bed was still warm. Jenny had left her a note, as she always did, this time reading **I'm gonna marry you someday, Suse, even if I'm 80 and breathing with a machine xxx**

After slipping the note in a shoebox with the rest of them, Susie got dressed to go downstairs.

In the kitchen, her mother was gone, but some breakfast for her lay steaming on the counter, her father tucking into his at the head of the table. Henry Fellows was the CEO of Derry's only commercial plumbing and electrical service. Unknown to Susie, Bill Denbrough's father worked at the same company and often complained to his family about his tight-ass boss, Henry.  
But Susie simply sat down at the table with her father, listening to the news station on his radio. The story was about a man who was thrown off a bridge by a group of guys and died. His boyfriend was fighting for justice, but Derry had a different view on the justice needed. Pretending to not be listening, Susie saw her father's fists clenching out of the corner of her eye. She had never considered her father to be an angry man, or a violent one. But he sure was a hateful one. Whether it was fags, black people, or retards, any talk of them and you could see Henry's knuckles go white and the vein in his neck stick out. A muscle in his cheek would wobble as he clenched his teeth.

Needless to say, he didn't know about Jenny.


	2. Chapter 2

Chapter 2

At school, last day jitters had set in, kids and teachers alike, and so far, none of her classes had gotten anything done. In Spanish, they even watched the first half of a random telenovela Señora Ramirez had on tape.

Now she was in social studies, and everyone was doing their own thing. Ben seemed unusually distracted, and several times Susie caught him staring at a girl in the middle of the classroom. She had red hair, a lot lighter and longer than Jenny's, and was quite beautiful. Susie could see Ben clearly had a crush on her, and his dramatic pining was taking a toll on their conversation.

Smiling to herself, she scribbled a note on some paper. **Do you have a crush on the redhead?** **Yes** **Absolutely**

She handed it over, and took great delight in the flash of fear that went across Ben's face as he crumpled the note in his hand and shook his head. He paused, and then nodded.

She smiled, and patted his arm. "Leave this to me," she whispered, and the colour fell from his cheeks. As the bell went, she began packing up her stuff. "If you'd like, you can keep the model water tower."

"Really?"

"Sure, I mean, what the hell am I going to do with it? Have a great summer holiday, Ben, we'll catch up!"

"Yeah, uh, definitely. See you later, I guess."

The last class of the day was physics with Stan. The guy that normally sat next to Stan wasn't there, so after roll call Susie shuffled back to sit next to him. He sent her a surprised smile and she wiggled her eyebrows at him. "Don't get too cocky, Stan, you may be my ticket to not failing physics for once."

He let out an awkward laugh. "You're out of luck, Suse, the final test was last week."

The familiar pet name sent a bolt of shock down Susie's spine, but he couldn't have known. It was just a coincidence. Recovering quickly, she rolled her eyes. "So _that_ was what that was."

Mr. Matheson shouted at the class to get their attention and began starting a whole new topic. Slowly, students began giving each other awkward looks and reluctantly pulling out their books.

Susie groaned. "Guess it's not too late, then."

After an hour of _actual_ schoolwork, the day was finally over. Stan and Susie walked side by side down the hallway, catching sight of their other three friends. Stan called out to them and the pair ran over.

As soon as they caught up, Stan slipped in between Bill and Eddie, and Susie fell in beside Richie. Bill excitedly turned to Stan. "Hey Stan, what happens at the bar mitzvah anyways? E-Eds says they slice the tip of your d-dick off?"

Richie butted in. "Yeah, I think the rabbi's gonna come in and pull down your pants, turn to the crowd and say, 'where's the meat?!'" The boys chuckled as Stan and Susie rolled their eyes.

Stan took a deep breath. "At the bar mitzvah, I read from the Torah, and then I make a speech, and suddenly, I become a man."

"I can think of finer ways to become a man," Richie winked at Susie, and she elbowed him in the ribs in response.

Susie turned at the wrong time, and locked eyes with Patrick Hockstetter. He was with the rest of the Bowers gang, all posed and looking aggressive, and he sent her a wicked grin. While the rest of the gang glared at the younger boys whom they hated so much, Patrick kept his focus on her, pulling an obscene gesture with two fingers and his tongue.

She narrowed her eyebrows and gestured back, cocking her head in a challenge. The boys to the right of her 'ooh'ed and Patrick frowned.

Once they were past, Richie piped up. "Think they'll sign my yearbook? 'Dear Richie, sorry for taking a big, steaming dump in your bag the other day. Have a great summer!'"

"Worth a shot," Susie muttered. "We are so close, after all."

She followed the boys outside where they immediately began emptying out their books into the trashcans on the sidewalk. Susie leaned against the cool metal and gazed into the sun, finally feeling the welcome warmth of the summer break on her skin.

"Best feeling ever!" Stan grinned, dumping his empty bag on the ground.

"Yeah? Try tickling your pickle for the first time!" Richie pushed his glasses up with one finger as everyone groaned at him.

Uncomfortable, Eddie changed the subject. "Hey, what're you guys doing tomorrow?"

"Start my training," Richie said.

Susie lowered her head and stared at Richie, flashes of colour flooding her vision from afterimage. "You play sport?"

"Street fighting!" Susie furrowed her eyebrows.

"That's how you want to spend your summer? In an arcade?" Eddie questioned. Susie let out a quiet 'ohhh', but Richie ignored her.

"Beats spending it inside your mother!" He quipped, going for a high-five from Stan, which was harshly rejected. Susie let out a chuckle, smothering it down when Eddie shot her a disapproving look.

"What if we go to the quarry?" Stan suggested.

Susie saw Greta and her gaggle of teenage girls storming out of the front doors, looking awfully smug, and she suddenly remembered her promise to Ben to get Beverly's attention for him. She knew while boys all over the school were terrified of the Bowers gang, girls like Beverly with an unfortunate reputation got Greta's wrath.

When she turned back, the boys were talking about Betty Ripsom's mom, who was standing in front of the school with a cop car, looking devastated. Susie knew from Jenny, Betty's older sister, that their mother was ruined when Betty went missing. Jenny had taken it extremely hard but for the sake of the household, had put on a brave face. The only reason Susie shared her nights with Jenny was because of how absent her mother was. Susie felt horrible for seeing it as a silver lining to a child's disappearance, and tore her gaze from Mrs. Ripsom.

"Hey, guys," she interrupted, "I left something at my locker. I'll be back." They didn't take much notice; apart from Eddie nodding to let her know he heard, the rest just continued their conversation.

She found herself in the main hallway looking out for Beverly, eventually seeing a flash of red hair too light to be Jenny's coming out of the bathrooms. She called out to get her attention, and jogged over to her. "Hey, Beverly," she paused, wrinkling her nose. "Why do you smell like garbage?"

Beverly sighed. "Garbage water from a trash bag."

Susie groaned sympathetically. "Well, I suppose we give credit to Greta's originality, and to hell with everything else."

There was a long pause, and Susie sought to fill the silence. "You know Ben from Soc? The new kid?"

Beverly looked shocked. "Oh, um. I guess?"

Susie kept up a smile, but internally screamed. Ben had a Shakespearean crush on a girl who wasn't even aware of his existence. This was going to be tough. "It's just that he's only been here a couple weeks, and the whole school mostly avoids him being the new kid, so I just thought he could use a couple more friends to cheer him up. God, that sounds like I'm guilt tripping you. You don't have to, of course, but he's such a great kid, and-"

Beverly laughed, catching Susie off-guard. "If I see him, I'll say hi. Deal?"

Susie was rubbish at this. "Yeah, that'd be great. Derry folk can be real mean, but you seem like a good sort. Nice to properly have a conversation, Trashbag."

"As far as nicknames go…"

"Yeah?"

"It's awful and I never want to hear it again. Sorry, Susie."

"That's fair. Sorry about that, Beverly. Have a great summer."

Beverly smiled, and held up a hand in farewell as she left through the back entrance.

Jenny had come around earlier that night, because Susie's parents were out of town for her uncle's birthday, so the house was empty for the night. For the first time in months, Jenny and Susie could leave the confines of her room and have a romantic dinner of their own – cornflakes – in the kitchen.

"I hate that I can't see you more during the day, Suse," Jenny said earnestly.

To avoid answering, Susie began washing the few dishes in the sink.

" _Suse_."

Susie's voice was barely a whisper and her voice wobbled. "I'm just scared of what they'll say."

"Who is 'they', Susie? I'm sure your friends won't mind, and we don't have to tell your dad." When her girlfriend didn't answer, Jenny continued. "Babe, it kills me walking past you in the hallway and not being able to hold your hand. Who cares what they say?"

Susie frowned and drained the sink. "We wait until we graduate next year, and then move to-"

"-to Portland where they aren't so strict. I've heard you say that a million times, Suse, so why don't I feel reassured?"

Susie left the sink and turned around to take Jenny into her arms. "I love you so much, Jenny, and I want to be with you forever, but I just need some time." Her soap-covered hands clutched at Jenny's shirt, and she buried her head against her neck. "I'm sorry," she whispered into her red hair.

Jenny softly pulled her head back and planted a kiss on Susie's lips. "Baby, I love you, but now my shirt's all wet and it's kinda gross."

Susie let out a weak laugh and shifted her arms to the kitchen counter, pressing Jenny against it. "Maybe we should take it off, then?"

"You'll be the death of me," Jenny laughed, and leaned her head in.

It was not quite 3am when a bang jolted Susie awake. Jenny's legs were tangled around hers, which meant someone, or some animal, was in the house.

Rubbing her eyes, and carefully detaching herself from Jenny's sleeping figure, Susie unlocked the door and crept, barefoot, out into the hallway. There was a light on in the kitchen, and it sounded like someone was opening cabinets. She called out, once, and the noise stopped.

As she padded down the carpeted hallway, she called out slightly quieter, aware of the girl still sleeping in her bed. She reached the kitchen, and walked in, hands defensively held out in front of her, but no one was there. Picking up a knife, she did a quick perimeter around the house but came up empty. She was going to put it off as nothing, and went back to the kitchen to put the knife away, when she caught a flash of black on the kitchen counter. A sharpie sat, lid off, on the counter. Scrawled all over the laminated benchtop was her father's handwriting: **I know about you and Jenny.**

A burst of fear jolted through her and as she turned around to reach for the paper towels, she saw three letters on the front of the white fridge: **FAG**

She wet a handful of paper towels and furiously tried to scrub off the writing, but it wouldn't even smudge.

Tears sprung to her eyes and she rushed down the hallway, screaming out for Jenny.

Her girlfriend came out, alarmed but still half asleep. She had thrown on Susie's robe to cover herself and in a daze Susie couldn't believe how lucky she was to be with her. But then she remembered the sharpie and a heartbroken moan left her lips involuntarily.

"What's wrong, babe?" Jenny slipped her hand into Susie's clammy one.

Susie's voice was shaking and low. "My dad knows about us," she said. "Come see."

Silently, and solemnly, they walked, hand-in-hand, down the hallway and into the kitchen. Jenny gave no reaction when the stood in front of the refrigerator. "What is it?"

Susie froze. "Don't you- The sharpie on…" Jenny opened the FAG fridge and pulled out a bottle of coke, slamming it shut. In the back of her mind, Susie realised she couldn't see the writing. "Never mind."

"What sharpie? I thought your parents weren't here, how did your dad find out? Suse, you're scaring me!"

In a dull voice, Susie responded, staring blankly at the slur scrawled on the refrigerator. "I think I must've had a nightmare. I… dreamt he wrote a note in sharpie saying he knew. I'm sorry, we can go back to bed now, Jen."

Jenny seemed worried, but kissed Susie on the cheek and handed her the open bottle of coke. "Take some sleeping pills, or an Advil, or something. It was just a dream, babe. It's not real."

 **FAG**

"I guess not."

The writing was somehow gone completely the next morning, without even a trace on either the countertop or the fridge, and Susie was in a much lighter mood. During breakfast, while Jenny was taking a shower, the home phone rang with a call from Bill. He was getting the gang together to check out the Barrens for any signs of his missing brother, Georgie.

Susie had followed the story in the news months before she met Bill, and her heart broke for him when she put the dots together and realised all that time she had spent with him, he was in the same boat as Jenny. A missing younger sibling, yet forced to move on with their lives. She agreed immediately, and offered to bring some snacks for the group.

"S-See you there, Suh-Suh-Susie."

"You too, Bill. I'll be there in an hour."

She hung up the phone as Jenny walked in, dressed already, with a towel wrapped around her hair. "Hot date with the Losers Club?"

"The what?"

Jenny laughed. "Bill, Richie, Eddie and Stan are the Losers Club. I think Belch Huggins coined the term, but the whole school uses it."

"That's embarrassing."  
"Sure is."

"For you, I mean." She leaned over to kiss Jenny. "You're dating a loser, Jen."

Jenny laughed and put her hand on Susie's cheek to pull her in for another kiss.

Susie hummed and pulled away. "Nice try, but I can't be late for my _hot date_. Isn't the Barrens so romantic?"

Jenny screwed up her face. "The Barrens? God, I am dating a loser."

Susie rolled her eyes and began lacing up her sneakers as Jenny walked off. "Lock the door on your way out!" She called out and left the house, grabbing her bicycle from the side of the house.


	3. Chapter 3

The four boys had met up with her on the roadside that bordered the Barrens. They had trampled through bush and weeds and stones to get to the open pipe that was pushing water into the wide river. Susie had joined Bill at the front of the group, secretly hoping to find Jenny's younger sister, preferably alive, where Bill thought Georgie was. She heard Stan, Eddie, and Richie arguing about poison ivy, but was more focussed on looking into the wide mouth of the sewage pipe.

It was an extremely sunny day, but not overly hot, yet a wet, thick, putrid warmth pushed on her from the sewers. Her shoes were already wet, and the fabric had let water soak her socks, too. She wasn't looking forward to stepping into that mucky greywater, but a morbid curiosity to solve the mystery of Derry's missing kids made her feet want to move all on their own. Bill followed her in, and shone a torch down into the shadows. The water sloshed around just above her ankles, and she willed herself not to look down as her shoes bumped against solid things floating around in there.

Catching the last half of one of Richie's god-awful jokes about Eddie's mother, Susie turned around to face Richie. "You're just jealous Mrs. Kaspbrak gets to kiss Eddie goodnight and you don't."

Eddie let out a weak 'geez, don't start' but Richie had pushed his glasses up with his hand, always a sign a comeback was near. "More like I'm jealous Eddie gets to kiss _her_ goodnight, right Eds? She's a lotta woman. A _lotta_ woman," he added thoughtfully. He turned around to Eddie and Stan, who were both standing at the edge of the pipe. "Aren't you guys coming in?"

Eddie frowned and shook his head. "Nuh-uh. It's greywater."

"What's greywater?"

He shrugged, voice rising. "It's basically piss and shit, so I'm just telling you, you guys are splashing around in millions of gallons of Derry pee." He waved his hands in the air in exasperation.

Susie went to reassure him, but was unsurprisingly interrupted by Richie picking up a stick from the water. Eddie saw him and began to protest, but Richie was doing one of his rubbish voices, some Spanish Yoda mix-up. "Doesn't smell like caca to me, senor!"

Eddie screwed up his nose. "Okay, I can smell that from here, okay?"

Susie grabbed the stick of Richie and chucked it back into the water. "God, Richie, we're in here for a good cause," she gestured to Bill, who had wandered further in, "not for the fucking love of it. This is still disgusting."

To Eddie and Susie's displeasure, Richie laughed and went splashing after the stick, shoving it right up under his nose. "Better than roses, Susie. Don't you just adore it here?"

Eddie yelled at him from outside. "Have you ever heard of a staph infection?"

No one was surprised at Richie's comeback, and they all tried to ignore it. Stan looked like he wanted the ground to swallow him alive.

Susie saw Richie lift a piece of rubbish on the end of the stick, aiming it at Eddie. In horror, she tried to grab it off him, only to get a wet trash bag hit her in the face. She batted it out of the way and spat out the foul-tasting water, hunching over and gagging. From the edge of the pipe, she heard Eddie screech and begin to berate Richie.

"Guys!" Susie, still curled into herself, twisted her head to the side, wiping away a string of saliva dripping from her mouth. Bill was holding up a child's sneaker, looking solemn. Richie and Eddie fell silent, argument forgotten.

Stan's voice was high-pitched and cracking slightly. "Shit, don't tell me that's…"

Bill shook his head. "N-no. Georgie wore galoshes."

Susie felt a spool of dread unwind in her stomach. She stood up and splashed over to it. "Whose sneaker is it, Bill?" Up close, she could read the **B Ripsom** written in black sharpie on the inside of the shoe. "Oh god, Betty Ripsom." Richie came up beside her and looked too. Susie squinted down the pipeline, as if she could've seen Betty, standing there with one shoe, waiting for her. She thought of her girlfriend, and was glad it was her down her and not Jenny. Leaving the two boys behind, she wandered further in to the dark.

She could hear the boys bickering, and even though she could barely see, she kept moving forward, around a slight curve, trying to make out movement that wasn't the water.

Soon, it was too dark to see a thing, so she turned out. "What if she's still here?" She called out to the boys, and Bill began moving forward with the flashlight.

"If I was her, I'd want us to find her. Juh-Georgie, too."

Almost too far away to hear, Eddie called out. "What if I don't want to find them?" Confused, Susie began moving closer towards him as he kept talking. "I mean, no offense Bill, but I don't want to go missing either."

Stan looked pensive. "He has a point."

"What?" Susie looked at them confused. Here was evidence that missing children could be just around the corner, and they were saying no.

"It's summer! We're supposed to be having fun! This isn't fun. This is scary and disgusting."

Susie made and kept eye contact with Stan. He did look terrified. She felt bad, and began to walk back out towards the light, but at that moment a familiar figure washed up on the riverbank behind Stan.

She gasped, and ran out, splashing water everywhere. Ben had blood coming out of his nose, ears, stomach, dirt on his face and clothes, and he tried to stand but kept collapsing. "Oh my god, Ben, what happened?" Susie ran out to help him up, and Stan and Eddie followed closely behind her.

They all dumped their bikes in the alley down the road from the pharmacy. Eddie had decided this was their first stop, and Ben had ridden on Bill's bike, since it was the biggest. Susie fretted around him and made sure he sat down gently enough on a wooden box against the wall. "Um, everyone, this is Ben. Ben, you know me, but this is Bill, Stan, Richie, and Eddie. I have some money to get you some first aid gear, so Richie and Stan will stay with you while we run in and get it. Is that okay?"

He nodded, in a daze. She patted his hand and ushered the other two around the corner.

When they got in the pharmacy, Susie went around searching for a full first-aid kit, whereas Eddie took the approach to individually take every single item needed. After failing to find an actual first aid kit, which reflected very poorly on the pharmacy itself, she rounded the corner to see Eddie with his arms full and stacked with ten or twelve different boxes and packets. Frowning, she pulled a few notes out of her pocket. "I don't think I can afford all that."

"Are you kidding me?" Eddie furrowed his brows and looked back and forth between his stack of supplies and the shelves, wondering what he should put back.

Susie sighed. "I think I'll ask the pharmacist about a first aid pack. Surely, they have to have some in a pharmacy. Like, legally, right?" Shrugging, she walked towards the desk and up to Mr. Keene.

He had his back turned to her and she awkwardly tapped her fingers on the counter as she waited. When he finished and turned back around, she put up a smile. "Hey, I don't suppose you have first aid kids anywhere, do you?"

He grinned at her. Mr. Keene was the epitome of a child predator, except for the preying on children part. "Why, there should be! Can you not find it?"

She shrugged. "I checked all the aisles." She turned around to see Beverly Marsh chatting with the boys. They made eye contact and Beverly held up a hand, swirling her finger around and pointing behind her. Susie understood. Get Mr. Keene to turn his back, and they'd leave with the stuff while he wasn't looking. Turning back around, she smiled at Mr. Keene. "It's just that I really need it for a trip I'm going on soon. I don't suppose you'd have some out, back would you?"

He didn't seem convinced.

Susie leaned forward on the counter, arms crossed so as to push her boobs up. "Maybe you could check. For me?" She put on a playful pout and smiled at him.

He took a long, hard stare down her shirt, which almost made her give up the gag, but then he sent her a smirk and disappeared around the corner.

Quickly she turned around so see the two boys and Beverly, Eddie still with his pile of supplies, staring at her blankly. She waved her hands and raised her eyebrows, and they got the hint, rushing out of the store, Eddie knocking over a chapstick display on his way out. She grinned and turned back as Mr. Keene returned.

He had a first-aid kit in his hand. Mind blank, she stared at it. He put it on the counter expectantly, and she pretended to fumble around her pockets, ignoring the money in her back pocket. Faking embarrassment, she turned up to him. "I'm so sorry, Mr. Keene. I left my money at home. I must've wasted so much of your time. I feel like such an idiot."

Her ploy worked better than expected, and startlingly, he placed a heavy hand on her shoulder. "If you keep it quiet, I'd be happy to help out a wonderful young lady such as yourself." He slid the red package across the table and winked at her.

"Oh!" Tentatively, she reached over to take it. "Thanks, so much, Mr. Keene. You're a real nice guy, you know that? Have a great day," she rushed out, gave a half-hearted smile, and hurried back through the front door, bell clinging above her.

As soon as she passed the store windows, she broke into a run, rounding the corner. The boys and Beverly had already begun fixing up Ben.

"Remind me to change pharmacies," Susie shuddered, and reached the first aid kit to Eddie. "If you want it, it's yours."  
He looked up at her, smiling but unsure. "These are expensive, Susie, really?"

She pushed it towards him again, and he grabbed it, piling it with all the other supplies. She put her focus on the patient. "So, Ben, what happened?"

"Oh, it's nothing," he said, glancing over at Beverly. "I fell."

Richie laughed in disbelief. "Yeah, right into Henry Bowers!"

Beverly stepped forward. "You sure they got the…right stuff to fix you up?" She sent Ben a conspiratorial smile, the 'inside joke' smile. He smiled and blushed in return, and Susie gave herself a mental pat on the back. God, she was good. They were flirting already.

Susie sat down next to Eddie and gave him a hand in taking off the packaging for chunky bandages and disinfectant wipes as Bill started to talk to Beverly.

"Geez, Ben, if Henry comes after you, or any one of his creepy fucking friends you let me know, okay? I'll beat the crap out of them."

Richie leaned down. "If I was you, Ben, I'd totally sacrifice my stomach to see that."

Susie whacked his hand and scolded him.

As it was, Stan was in the same frame of mind, because as soon as Beverly left, he told off Richie for bringing up Bowers in front of her.

"Oh god," Susie moaned. "Stan, those rumours are such bullshit."

"What'd she do?" Ben questioned.

"More like _who_ 'd she do. From what I hear the list is longer than my wang!" Richie's unnecessary gesture finished off his statement.

Stan rolled his eyes. "That's not saying much."

Susie looked up at Ben. "I can't say anything for who Beverly has had sex with, but all you have to do is look at Henry Bowers' face to realise she didn't do it with him." It was really none of her business either way, but she didn't want Ben thinking any less of her for something that probably wasn't even true. Especially when he was so head over heels for her. "And if the list is longer than Richie's dick, she must be waiting until marriage."

When the gang all met up at the quarry the next day, with both Ben and Beverly in tow, Susie only arrived after they had all jumped in. She stared down the edge of the cliff, at the water that seemed impossibly small and far away, and squinted at the six having fun, playing chicken and swimming around. "Dammit, Susie," she whispered to herself. "That could be you down there, having fun with kids three years younger than you, enjoying summer, feeling alive. Just don't be such a pussy and jump."

Huffing and puffing to herself, she undid her jean shorts and stepped out of them, kicked off her shoes and socks and pulled her t-shirt over her head. She chucked the clothes with the rest of the stuff from the other kids and slowly crept towards the end. She was lucky that she was familiar enough with the quarry to bring sturdy swimwear, with a bikini top that had a proper back as opposed to string ties. She stood on the edge and raised her hands to her mouth. "Hey assholes!" she screamed out.

They all looked up at her in shock.

"We th-thought you weren't coming anymore!" Bill called back at her, and she shrugged.

Just as she was about to jump, she heard a voice scream out, "DO A FLIP!"

Rolling her eyes, and squeezing them shut, she ran off the edge and into open air.


	4. Chapter 4

By the time Susie had jumped down and crashed into the water, the rest of the group had swum halfway across to her. They were all mid-laughter, grins on their faces, some still splashing water at each other.

They were happy.

Richie had his glasses of, of course, and he was sloshing around half-blindly, grabbing onto Eddie's arm to lead him the right way. "Did you flip?" he asked hopefully, squinting in her general direction.  
She grinned. "Wha- You missed it? Man, Richie, I got some serious air up there and pulled a triple. You saw it, guys, didn't you?" She raised her eyebrows at them suggestively.

It was Stan who went with the lie. "Richie, it sucks that you're so blind because that was awesome!"

"God, it was the coolest, Susie, nice one!" Beverly swum up beside her and playfully knocked shoulders. After a moment's pause, Susie realised Beverly's hair didn't quite reach the water, and flicked out at the bottom of her neck. She had cut it.

"Woah, in other news, how late was I?" The losers looked at her questioningly. "You've gone and had makeovers without me!" She gestured to Bev's hair and sighed dramatically. "It looks really nice, though, Beverly." Susie turned to Ben and tried to look meaningful, passing on the hint, but he had his face under the water. "Wha-?"

He popped up in a splash of water that got Bill and Eddie in the face. "There's a turtle under here, guys!" He puffed out his cheeks and chest in a gasp of air and plunged his face back down again. The other losers, bar Stan, did the same.

Susie, who had never been a huge fan of open waters as it was, was originally under the impression there was little to no living entities in the quarry, so a full, actual turtle was her cue to leave. "Okay, Stan, I'm leaving the creep from the deep to the other kids. Let them know I'm getting out, okay?" As she begun to turn, he jumped forward in the water and tugged on her arm.

"I'll come with, if that's okay?" He pushed his dripping curls out of his face and gave her a hopeful smile. She simply smiled back and nodded, and they made their way across the quarry to a small rocky bank.

After she found a flat space to lie down on, Stan sat beside her. "How come you don't like turtles?"

She stared at the group of kids down below moving in a group with their heads under the water, following a dark green shadow beneath them. "It's not turtles specifically, I guess. Just, sea life in general." At Stan's questioning look, she explained what she meant. "When I was learning to swim, I was fine at it, but really slow. My teacher one day, she told me to imagine there was a shark beneath me, chasing me, and the only thing I could do to save myself was to speed up."

Stan squinted one eye from the sun as he listened to her. "Geez."

She laughed lightly. "I am an incredibly fast swimmer now, I'll give her that. But sometimes, no matter how illogical, a thought can really take a hold and be impossible to shake." Stan nodded in understanding, but his mind was somewhere else. She tried to change the subject. "Anyway, on a lighter note, how's the bar mitzvah prep going?"

He frowned. "That's not really a lighter note. It's going terrible, and I know my father is embarrassed of me." He sighed, and lied down next to her, staring up at the few clouds in the sky.

"I could always help you, Stan." Susie turned her face to him. "I mean, I know next to nothing about Judaism so I would absolutely offend both you and your religion at some point, but if you're fine with-"

"I'd really love that, actually. Thanks, Suse." His head turned to her, and they shared a happy silence.

In that moment, Susie remembered Jenny. Jenny didn't think the losers would mind if they found out, and they both felt the pain of holding that secret was eating them alive. Every interaction with a boy felt like it came to a standstill; an expectation that couldn't be fulfilled, but couldn't be rejected outright, either. Maybe it was time to test the waters. "Hey, Stan, this is kind of random, but what is the Jewish view on-"

Susie's heart broke and yet sighed in relief when she heard Richie and Eddie loudly arguing, voices getting louder and closer to them. The moment shattered and both Stan and Susie sat up to see the whole gang, climbing the rocks to come sit with them.

It pleased Susie to see Beverly and Ben chatting animatedly, bringing up the rear. Her sight of them was broke by Bill standing in front of her, blocking out the sun so that gold light lit up the edges of his hair. "You m-missed the turtle, guys. It was a ruh-real big one, too."

Susie grinned at him. "Somehow, I doubt I'll lose sleep over it. Was it a male or female one?"

Richie leaned over. "Well, geez, Suse, we didn't think to check it the turtle had a wang or not."

She feigned confusion. "Why not? It'd be easier to spot than yours, Richie." She grinned at him as the others laughed.

Richie paused, then looked back and forth at Susie and Stan. "Speaking of dicks, what were you two doing up here alone? Don't need to read the Torah anymore Stan, you've become a man already!" He went for a high-five but Stan just gave him a 'really?' look.

Ben and Bev had finally reached the rest of the group, playfully hitting each other and joking around. Susie took only a little credit for getting them together.

Beverly got Stan to shuffle over and she sat beside Susie. "Ben and I are going to see a movie tonight, wanna come?"

Ben was subtly but furiously dragging his hand across his neck and shaking his head. "Oh, absolutely not, Beverly. I've got production practise until just before curfew tonight. You two can get to know each other better." Thankfully, Beverly didn't seem at all disappointed at the prospect of spending time alone with Ben.

Richie and Eddie had gone back up to the cliff to get all their stuff, so the rest of them were splayed out on the hot stone, looking up into the clouds. They sat in comfortable silence for about ten minutes, and after taking a furtive glance, Susie saw Bill had actually fallen asleep. She felt bad for him, knowing he was probably not sleeping all that well at home. He had mastered the brave face just like Jenny, but Susie could tell he was exhausted. She quietly sat up again, looking into the murky water. She saw a flash of movement, and followed it, expecting to see the round-ish green blotch of the turtle. But a sharp fin was cutting through the surface, moving far faster than a turtle could. She felt goosebumps rush up her arms and on the back of her neck as she realised it was a shark. The water her and her friends had just been swimming in had a shark in it. She got up and walked to the edge of the small rocky cliff they were on. Trying to follow the movements of the shark, which was heading their way, and trying to look for the outline of the turtle at the same time, she almost missed the dark red patch on the other side of the quarry, slowly spreading. "Oh my god," she muttered to herself and put a hand over her mouth.

Bill was still snoring slightly, but Stan, Ben, and Beverly had heard Susie and joined her.

"What's wrong, Suse?" Stan questioned.

A flash of fear jolted down her spine as she recalled what happened to the writing on the refrigerator, that Jenny couldn't even see it. She whipped her head to him, pointing furiously at the shape, swishing back and forth but steadily getting closer. "There's a shark in the water, don't you see it?"

He looked shocked and tried to follow her shaky hand. The seconds of silence among the losers felt like hours, and Susie was certain she was going crazy. Then, "Holy shit!" This came from Beverly, who was standing on her other side. Then Ben, and finally Stan, saw the shark. A heady rush of relief flowed through her, and she was so glad she wasn't alone in this, that she didn't hear Richie and Eddie return.

"Heads up!" Richie screamed, and shoved Susie and Stan into the water.

The purgatory between land and water was nowhere near as long as the cliff, but the time spent under the water felt like an eternity. Air bubbles filled the murky water, making it near impossible to see, but a sudden flash of red made Susie scream. That much red, it meant death. And the only other person in the water was Stan. Torn between swimming towards and away, she stayed frozen. The air bubbles slowly cleared to reveal…not blood, but balloons. What must've been hundreds of balloons, right from the surface of the water, to the bottom, until Susie couldn't even see them anymore.

A sudden burst of adrenaline kicked her into action. The thought that Stan was still alive, on the other side of those balloons, made her remember her years of swim training. _Swim as if a shark is right behind you, chasing you, and the only thing you can do to save yourself – save Stan – is to swim faster._

She battled with the balloons blocking her way and her vision, but they seemed to pop into nothing as soon as she touched them. She couldn't count how many times she thought she saw a pair of glowing yellow eyes coming towards her from all sides, but all she could think to do is just keep swimming.

All of a sudden, her knuckles rammed into solid stone, and her head broke the surface, gasping for air. She had reached the same place Richie had pushed her off from. Somehow, when she thought she was going straight, she had made a full circle. The kids were all crowded on the edge, but she couldn't see Stan. A different kind of fear, one not altogether related to the shark, made her scream out to them, through the water in her lungs. " _Stan_?" It wasn't a proper question, but they all understood, Bill yelling back, "He's here! Guh-get out of the water!"

Near delirious, Susie whipped around, half expecting to see a great white with bright yellow eyes parting the sea of balloons, mouth wide. But there was no shark. No balloons. As she shakily pulled herself up onto the rock, with arms desperately grasping at hers, she looked back and couldn't even see the patch of blood the turtle had left. She saw the turtle, still swimming.

The losers were in varying levels of emergency. Both her and Stan were the quietest of the group, still in shock. Bill and Eddie had their arms around each other, shaking, with Bill stuttering more than ever, trying to convince Eddie the shark had gone. Ben and Beverly were fussing over Stan, Beverly with her hands on his face, thumbs rubbing his cheeks and Ben patting his back. Richie had his hands clutched tight on his head, crying slightly, muttering 'sorry' over and over. With the others preoccupied, it was Richie that pulled Susie into a hug, almost squeezing the life out of her. "I didn't know Suse, I'm so sorry, I'm a terrible friend, I-"

She simply squeezed back and rubbed his shoulders. "It's okay, it's fine. I'm fine." She repeated this over and over to him until he calmed down.

Sniffling, and adjusting his glasses, he finally broke apart the hug. "Male or female, huh, Suse? Since you're the expert." He offered a weak grin. She let out a genuine laugh, not for the first or last time that day.

It took well over an hour for peace to resume among the Losers Club. Funnily enough, Stan and Susie were the first to recover. This wasn't because they were particularly brave, but because they were the only two to realise the red was balloons. From above, the remaining losers had waited in shock, only seeing a pool of red spreading. Once all had been explained, and both Susie and Stan had been thoroughly examined by Eddie to make sure they weren't injured, they all sat in the warm sun to dry off and calm down.  
Richie and Eddie had got back with their stuff before it all went down, so Susie went into her bag to retrieve some snacks she had brought with her. Bill, Beverly, and Susie all went for chocolate bars, Ben took a bag of salt and vinegar chips, and Richie and Eddie shared a packet of red vines. While putting away her rubbish, Susie noticed a giant folder sticking out of one of the bags. Curious, she sat on the rock between Ben and Richie and pulled it out. It was full of newspaper clippings, photocopied pages from history books and magazines, and little scrawled notes in the margins all throughout. "So, who's Derry's favourite historian?"

Ben realised what she had pulled out and fumbled through his bag, relaxing when he caught sight of a postcard, and zipped it shut. "Oh, well when I first got here, I didn't really sit with anyone at lunch. So, I just started spending time in the library."

The pair shared a look, Susie of regret for not spending more time with him, and Ben shrugged. "Wait a minute, you went to the library? On purpose?" Richie grabbed the folder and flicked through it, before passing it on to Bill.

Beverly came over to take a look, sitting between Ben and Bill. Bill and Beverly glanced at a few of the pages, stopping on a newspaper article about the Black Spot. Ben started explaining, mostly to Beverly, what happened there.

Susie didn't really give a shit about Derry's history; in her opinion, the town was gross enough as it was without revealing all the skeletons in its closet. Derry had a big closet.

"Derry's backstory is just full of dead children. Fucking depressing, Ben. You should've researched Disneyland or something else instead." But Ben wasn't listening, instead choosing to compliment Bev on her hair. A long time coming, but better late than never, so Susie went and sat beside Stan. "This is why I hate history. It's either lies from the winner's perspective, or bloody trails of dead people. I tried to write that in my Civil War essay but Mrs. Childs wasn't too happy about it. C+. Said that history was based in fact, not opinion, so mine wasn't relevant. What a weirdo."

Ben tuned back into the conversation. "Well, people die or go missing 6 times the national average here. And that's just grown-ups. Kids are worse. Way, way worse." Everyone except Susie seemed really interested. "I've got a bunch more stuff at home, if you guys wanna check it out?"

Susie was about to politely decline when she was rudely interrupted by everyone else but Eddie enthusiastically agreeing.

At Ben's house, the gang gathered inside Ben's room. It was as if his folder had exploded in pieces on the walls; every inch was covered in missing posters, charters, newspaper articles, and more of his scrawly handwriting on post it notes everywhere.

Ignoring the rest of the kids gawking at the morbid memorabilia, Susie walked up to Ben. "Gosh, Ben, don't you find it hard to relax in here with all this death around you?"

He just shook his head. "It's really interesting, and… it's important to me. The town I came from had nowhere near this much dirty laundry. You'd be surprised the rumours you hear talking to the right people."  
"If you're hearing that sort of stuff, Ben, you're talking to the _wrong_ people. Stay safe, yeah?"

He was saved from answering by Stan pointing to a long train of pages filled with signatures. "What's that?"

"Oh, it's a charter for Derry township."

Richie laughed. "Nerd alert!"

Ben didn't look put off. "No, it's actually really interesting! Derry started out as a beaver hunting camp…"

"Still is, boys!" Richie's high-five was firmly declined by Stan and Eddie.

Ben continued. "91 people signed the charter that started the camp. But all of a sudden they disappeared without a trace."

All this history talk was boring the hell out of Susie, so she walked past Beverly out into the hallway. Ben had told them earlier that his mom was working, so no one would be home. That meant prime time for exploration.

His house was reasonably tidy, but felt lived-in. Susie went first to the kitchen opposite his room. There was a notepad and a pen with a note from his mother, similar scratchy handwriting to his, and magnets from different states all over the fridge. A clock on the wall read 3:09pm. "Oh, shit."

Susie rushed back into Ben's room, where the mood was solemn. "Guys, I have to go. I have some…homework to do. Holiday assignment."

Beverly turned to her, frowning. "Didn't you have practise for your play tonight?"

The rest of the group turned to her. "Uh, yeah, that doesn't start until later, so I'm getting my work done now." Before more questions could be raised, she left the house in a hurry and grabbed her bicycle.

Since Jenny's 17th birthday was that day, Susie had promised to take her out. They had been dating in secret for almost 10 months, yet had never left the confines of Susie or Jenny's houses together. They were planning on getting ice creams and seeing a movie. Only one movie showing finished in enough time for them to bike home before curfew, since they both lived on the other side of town.

Susie had spent hours trying to come up with a present that would express her feelings for Jenny that they could keep between them. A small, hard box in her back pocket was the product of months of saving up babysitting money. They were standing in line for tickets, Susie wearing a sundress, Jenny in shorts and a white t-shirt with **birthday girl** scribbled in sharpie on the breast pocket. Their ice creams were starting to melt from the heat in the theatre and it was a mad race to lick up the drops running down their sticky fingers. The crowd in the building was a convenient excuse for them to bump shoulders. "I can't believe you brought me to a horror movie, Suse!"

Susie grinned. "Happy birthday, birthday girl! Besides, if it gets too scary we can always sneak out of the movies and go get another ice cream. My shout."

Jenny smiled at her, and Susie had to look away to fight the urge to kiss her. She nudged her shoulder again instead. Jenny looked up as if someone had caught her eye. "Hey, isn't that the new kid you hang out with now?"

Frowning, Susie followed Jenny's gaze to see, five people ahead of them, Ben with Beverly, lining up to get tickets. "Oh shit," she muttered. "I completely forgot." She turned to Jenny desperately. "Let's do something else, like bowling or mini golf. We could play ski ball at the arcade?"

"Calm down, Suse. To everyone here we're just a coupla friends seeing a movie for Yours Truly's birthday." Her eyes glimmered and a grin stretched on her face. "Maybe we should join them so we can skip the line."

Susie let out a gasp, but before she could do anything, Jenny had jogged over to them. "Ben and Beverly, yeah? Friend of a friend, Jenny Ripsom." She held out a hand to shake, which Ben took awkwardly.

Susie caught up, apologising. "Jenny was just wondering if we could line up behind you guys. We were way back there." Beverly was giving her a dubious look, and Susie knew she was caught in a lie. She looked up at Jenny, uncertain. "Production rehearsal was cancelled."

Ben smiled awkwardly at her, clearly not appreciating the intrusion. Susie felt like she needed to make amends. "We aren't going to sit with you or anything, don't worry. We decided to go out for Jenny's birthday. I mean, _hang out_ for Jen's birthday."

Jenny smiled at them. "Susie told me about that shark incident at the quarry. I can't believe no one jumped in to save her." She made eye contact with Susie, a glint in her eye. "I certainly would've."

"Yeah, uh, the line is moving."


	5. Chapter 5

Chapter 5

You assholes didn't answer my questions but then I realised I uploaded the documents before putting comments in (I think, is confusing) so you're forgiven. Enjoy!

Luckily, Ben and Beverly wanted to sit in the middle of the theatre, or rather, _Beverly_ insisted on sitting in the middle of the middle; the perfect seat, she claimed.

That meant Susie and Jenny at least had the luxury of not being in their direct eye line. Susie had grabbed Jenny's hand without thinking and lunged up the steps to the back row.

The film started and the lights in the audience died down. Susie was still finishing off the last of her ice-cream; Jenny's was long gone. That meant Susie was constantly fending off attacks from her, and in the end, just sighed and passed over the bottom half of the cone.

It was another Nightmare on Elm Street sequel, the fourth or fifth one, and in Susie's opinion was nowhere near as freaky. Jenny, however, spent most of the film with her face buried in Susie's side.

Suse just thanked her lucky stars that it wasn't a busy showing.

But as soon as the credits rolled, the two left before Ben and Beverly even stood up, and the girls were breathing fresh night air in minutes.

There was less than an hour before curfew, only just enough time for Jenny to bike to her house on the outskirts of the town, but they chose to spend their last few minutes of the evening together walking along the Main Street and just chatting.

"I really hope Ben and Bev don't bring it up when we hang out tomorrow," Susie muttered, rolling her eyes and leaning into Jenny's warm side. There was hardly anyone around, which seemed odd for the hour before curfew, but it was something to take advantage of rather than overthink.

"You worry too much, Suse." With the strip lights of store windows behind her, Jenny was framed in neon light, like some sort of modern goddess. "If they are really your friends, and they sure seem like it, they'll respect your privacy. But even more, if the Losers Club are really your friends, they wouldn't mind anyway. We're fags, not murderers."

"Jenny!" Susie hissed, looking around frantically. Of the few kids leaving the arcade, an old couple sharing a smoke, and a tabby cat wandering down an alley, it didn't seem like anyone had heard. Susie calmed down, and reached down to her back pocket to make sure the velvet box was still there. She turned to Jenny with a soft smile. "You know," she begun nervously. "If we were any other couple we'd probably be married by now? It's ten months next week, Jen." Trying to wiggle the box from her tight pocket, she looked up at her girlfriend hopefully.

Jenny laughed lightly. "I can't wait 'til the dipshits in parliament get their asses into gear and let us get hitched. It'll be a glorious day, Suse, but something tells me we'll be wrinkly by then," her voice faded off and her smile fell a little.

"We… we could do it anyway, you know. Not legally, but just for us." At Jenny's questioning look, still smudged in sorrow, Susie pulled her into the entrance to the meat deliveries alley for a little privacy. She got a good hold of the box and pulled it out. "I know that we can't be each other's Mrs, and that we don't get extra tax benefits because technically we'll still be single, but…" Susie lifted the hinged lid to reveal a simple silver band ring on a delicate silver chain. "Marry me, Jenny. Just for us."

Jenny took a quick look behind Susie to the street, and instead of answering, took hold of Susie's face in both hands and pulled her into a kiss.

The next day, the Losers had planned to go back to the Barrens and build a dam, but when they arrived at Beverly's house, she was outside on the metal stairs, arms wrapped around her knees and a lit cigarette clenched between her teeth.

When she saw this, Susie sped up and ditched her bike on the pavement outside. She ran up the grass and met Bev just as she ran out the bottom of the stairs. "What's wrong? God, are you okay?"

Beverly placed a reassuring hand on Susie's shoulder and turned to face the rest of the group as they caught up. "I need to- I need to show you guys something."

Richie grinned. "More of what we saw at the quarry?" He winked at her.

"Shut up, just _shut up_ ," Eddie groaned, shaking his head.

Beverly just frowned, voice soft with worry. "My dad'll kill me if he saw I had boys in the apartment."

Susie turned to Richie with a smile. "Guess you won't be seeing more of what you saw at the quarry, Rich. You're our lookout!"

The group all rushed to follow Bev, who had already started up the stairs, taking them two at a time, but Richie wasn't happy. "Woah, woah, woah! What if her dad comes home, I don't even know what he looks like!"

Stan turned to him and huffed. "Do what you always do! Just start _talking_!"

Susie snorted and went in for a high-five, and Stan made sure to keep eye-contact with Richie as he returned it. Richie collapsed dramatically on the grassy hill but the group ignored him, half of them already inside the apartment.

Inside, Beverly's apartment was dark. And it didn't seem like it was just because of the dram curtains. Every room felt like light was being sucked away, leaving a shadowy hole that just felt wrong. Susie shivered a little, though it didn't seem that cold inside. Walking down the hall with the group, it almost seemed like they were exploring a haunted house or a serial killer's lair. The others were just as silent as she was.

They turned a corner, and there lay a door at the end of the short hall. The edges seemed to be glowing red, and all of a sudden, Susie's chest seized as she recalled the events at the quarry. Just like here, the red that day was luminous and horrible. As Beverly slowly padded down the hall, that red felt alive.

"What is it?" Stan questioned, voice shaky.

Beverly just shook her head. "You'll see."

As they got closer, Eddie got more worried, though seemingly not for the same reasons as the rest of them. "Are you... taking us to your bathroom? Because I just want you to know that 89% of the worst accidents at home are caused in bathrooms, and-and-and the whole bacteria thing is all over bathrooms, it's not exactly a sanitary place…" Eddie's voice trailed off as Susie pushed open the door, bathing the group in bright red light.

In fright, she pulled back her hand, checking it for any traces of blood. Eddie began gagging.

Beverly came up to the two standing at the edge of the room and looked back and forth between them. "You can see it?" The hopeful tone in her voice directly contrasted the dread Susie's had had when Jenny couldn't see the sharpie writing on her fridge. Looking back, it wasn't really until Bev uttered those words that Susie began to consider maybe something larger than this was at play, and maybe things were all connected.

The room was completely covered in blood. No surface was left untainted, and there was so much of it that thick, gloopy rivulets of it were still sliding down the walls and gathering in pools at the bottom. It had stained the wallpaper and towels, filled up in the bath and sink, and reddied the water in the toilet bowl. There was even red goop stuck in the bristles of her toothbrush.

Bill came up to stand beside them. The rest of the losers followed suit, crowding in the doorway. "We c-can't leave it like this," he said resolutely, and walked into the room.

Susie sighed, knowing what he was getting at. She turned to Beverly. "I hope you have a lot of paper towels. And Windex. And mops. Fuck, Beverly, I hope we have enough time before your dad gets home, this is going to take hours."

Beverly nodded, and ran down the hall, presumably to the cleaning cupboard. While most of them were still waiting at the entrance, Bill had taken to dragging lines through the red on the walls with his fingers.  
Eddie saw this and scrunched up his face. "Maybe I'll go downstairs and swap places with Richie, I mean he's been down there a long time, and-"

Susie laughed, breaking his train of thought. "I know it's gross, Eddie, but you're the cleaning and healthcare guru. You're the expert here, we need you."

Though he tried to hide it with a reluctant sigh, his cheeks grew warm and his chest puffed up. "Okay, fine. Susie, you and Bill can wipe down the walls-" he broke off and frowned at Bill, who was still wandering around in a daze, trailing his wet fingers through the streams of blood. "God. Anyway, Stan does the windows, Beverly can do the sink and mirror, Ben is on floor mopping duty."

Bill tuned back in, turning to Eddie and gesturing with his dripping hand. "Wuh-what will you do to h-help out, Eddie?"

Eddie backed up slightly and eyed Bill's outstretched hand with distaste. "Susie said I'm in charge, so I'm staying right here, thanks. Fuck that. I mean, whose blood is this? Because the HIV epidemic is some serious shit and I don't wanna amputate a leg or something, okay?"

"But you're happy to sacrifice our limbs?" Stan questioned, stepping into the room with Bill.

Beverly had returned, a stack of buckets filled with sponges and towels and spray bottles under her arm, and a mop in her other hand.

Eddie stared at Stan for a moment, then at the cleaning supplies, then at the bloody bathroom. He squeezed his eyes shut, shook his head, and when he opened them, reached for a pair of rubber gloves on the top of the pile.

The bathroom was looking as good is it was really going to get, and Stan and Eddie had left to catch up with Richie. Beverly had gone with Ben down to the dumpster to get rid of the giant trash bags full of used up rags and paper towels and empty Windex bottles, and it was just Bill and Susie still in the apartment, bent over the bath, running the buckets full of dark pink water down the drain.

They worked in comfortable silence for a bit, until Bill spoke up. "Can I get your advice on some… g-girl troubles?"

Susie stood up so fast she saw dark spots, but ignored them to stare at Bill in shock. "Why would I, uh, know anything about girl problems?"

Bill just stared at her blankly. "Buh-because you are one?" Susie let out a relieved 'oh' and Bill simply continued, oblivious to the split-second drama he had caused. "Anyway, there's this…girl that I like but I don't th-think she feels the same." His eyes were unfocussed, mind elsewhere. "I don't know what to do."

Susie paused. He can't have been referring to her or Beverly; he barely held a conversation with either of them. "What girl? Do I know her?"

"Yeah, he's-" his eyes flicked wide in shock. "Uh, _she's_ friends with us. She is." He shook his head blankly. "Never mind, pretend I never said-"

Susie grabbed onto his shoulders, putting the pieces together. "I don't know which one of us you're referring to, Bill, but are you gay?"

Bill tried to pull his shoulders away, gasping. "Nuh- _no!_ I'm not, I swear!"

Susie pulled him into a hug. It took a minute, but his shoulders slowly lost some of the tension. Both of them had been so scared to let someone find out, and Susie thanked her lucky stars for both her own and his sake, that they found each other, rather than a less sympathetic person. She pulled him back to arm's length; God, he looked like a deer in headlights. She took a deep breath. "I can help you, Bill." He looked up to her, almost shaking. She had to be brave and take a chance so that he could have his. "I want you to meet my girlfriend, Jenny."

Bill went absolutely limp in her arms, and she would've been worried if it weren't for the look on his face. He smiled up at her. "It's Stan, that-"

At that moment, and thank God not a moment earlier, the losers, including Stan, walked back into the bathroom.

Richie was there too, and he looked at the pair, sitting awkwardly on the edge of the bath. "What's Stan?"

Before Bill could turn into a stuttering mess, Susie rushed to think up a lie. "It's Stan that cleaned the windows, right? We were just saying how clean they look."

Almost no one in the group seemed convinced, Stan included (he had done a really rough job of the windows, and he knew it), but Richie groaned. "Damn, I thought we were gonna get some juicy gossip about Stan but they were talking 'bout the fucking windows."

Susie and Bill shared a look, and both got up to follow the Losers back outside.

Bill walked back to the front of the group, beside Stan and Ben, and Susie fell into step at the back with Beverly.

"You know," Beverly shrugged as they walked back down the metal stairs, "I have a secret admirer. He wrote me a poem; it was beautiful." Her eyes flicked up as she recited it. "'Your hair is winter fire; January embers; my heart burns there too.' Isn't that gorgeous?" She leaned in closer to Susie to whisper. "I think it might be Bill."

It had been a long time since Susie had laughed so hard until she cried, and Richie sure was pissed when the girls wouldn't tell him the joke.

As they were walking their bikes down the street to the Barrens, Richie was for the third time that afternoon, complaining about being left behind. "No, I love being your personal doorman, really! Could you idiots have taken any longer?"  
Susie rolled her eyes. "I'm sure Mr. Marsh wouldn't mind us cleaning the whole house for him. We could always go back, Richie, and you can resume your post."

"Fuck off."

"Shut up, Richie!"

"Yeah, shut up."

"O-kay, trash the trash mouth, I get it! Hey, at least I wasn't the one scrubbing the bathroom floor and imagining the sink went all 'Eddie's mom's vagina on Halloween.'"

Eddie let out a frustrated grunt as Bill turned to face Richie, who was biking in circles around them as they walked. "She didn't imagine it." Bill came to a stop, mouth working, trying to find the right words to say, or the courage to say them. The losers slowly noticed and slowed to a stop around him. "I s-s-saw something too."

Stan furrowed his eyebrows. "You saw blood too?"

Bill shook his head. "Not blood. G-G-Georgie. It seemed so real. I mean… It seemed like him, but there was this-"

Eddie was listening to this, deep in thought, with his mouth open. Now, he looked up at Bill. "The clown. Yeah, I saw him too."

Susie looked at the other members. Ben was nodding solemnly, Stan looked like his mind was elsewhere, face tightened up in a memory of something awful.

Richie had his face screwed up, eyes giant behind his glasses. "Wait, can only virgins see this stuff? Is that why I'm not seeing this shit?" He waved his hand in confusion, then looked around the group. His eyes landed on Susie. "Suse, you're sixteen. Make or break my theory."

"Wha-?" She couldn't tell them about the writing. That wound ran too deep and had to be hidden. At least for now. "No, Richie, I haven't seen a fucking clown. Happy?"

Richie was happy.

But before he could open his mouth to express it, the group heard a commotion coming from the little dirt path that led down to the Barrens. "Shit," Richie muttered, previous conversation already forgotten, "that's Belch Huggins' car."

Eddie glanced around the empty street, grip tightening on his handlebars. "We should probably get out of here."

But Bill noticed the tipped over bike beside the car, that looked awfully familiar. "Wait, isn't that the h-home-schooled kid's bike?"

Eddie sighed. "Yeah, that's Mike's."

Beverly's face fell in worry. "We have to help him."

"We should?"

"Yeah, Richie. _We should_." Susie abandoned her bike, following Bev down the dirt path. The boys followed suit, Stan pausing to set up the stand for his.

When they reached the source of the commotion, they saw Mike on the other side of the river, held down by Henry Bowers and his thugs. His face was pressed into the raw meat he was meant to be delivering, and the gang were yelling at him to eat it.

He tried to get up, but Bowers knocked him on his back, holding a rock above his head, ready to bring it down.

Not knowing what to do, Susie grabbed a large rock from the riverbed and lobbed it at them. It missed by a good five feet, and the guys, Mike included, didn't notice. "Fuck," she muttered, dejected.

Beverly leant down and picked up a rock of her own, throwing it and hitting Henry Bowers smack in the face, just as the rest of the group arrived and saw it. Susie pouted as Stan and Eddie congratulated Bev on her good aim, and quick thinking.

In the diversion, Mike managed to get away from the gang and splash across the river. Seeing her strengths didn't lie in actual confrontation, Susie left the group to help Mike onto their side.

Henry snarled at the boys. "You're trying too hard, you know. She'll do you if you ask nicely. Like I did!" As he made a show of grabbing onto his junk, Ben let out an animalistic roar. Henry paused and stared at him in confusion. Ben took this opportunity of a still target to chuck another rock at Bowers' head.

Richie gasped, his face lit up. " _Rock war!_ " He screamed, and got hit in the face by a rock thrown by Belch Huggins.

As both sides exchanged insults and rocks, Susie and Mike tried to wade a little further upstream, out of the line of fire. They reached a small grassy bank and Susie lifted Mike onto it, frantically checking him for injuries. "Mike, right? Are you okay, Mike?"

He nodded, in a daze, not really listening as he focussed on the losers, who were clearly winning the rock war. Susie was honestly just surprised no one had lost their front teeth.

Eventually, when the battle was over, it was just Henry that remained on the other side; his friends had left him. The group slowly went back up the path one by one, with Susie helping Mike who apparently was hurt. He limped along, arm wrapped around her.

Richie was the last kid to leave. As expected, he had some final words of wisdom to impart on Bowers. "Go blow your dad, you mullet-wearing asshole!"

Okey-dokey, let me know what you think. But actually, do it this time! I'm serious, peoples...

Question: give me a line of dialogue and I'll see if I can put it into an upcoming chapter. As a sort of trust exercise between us. The only feedback I've had was someone wanting benverly, and I've followed through on that (you're welcome!) so trust me on this!


	6. Chapter 6

It was the fourth of July. This meant two things: one, that the production was on tonight, and two, that Susie was no longer a part of it.

Having started rehearsals in late May, it was all going well until she decided, incidentally around the same time she met the various members of the Losers Club, that she no longer wanted to go. Being the fourth of July today meant that she would officially be giving the role up to the understudy; it had been almost a month since she last went. While Susie a year ago would've freaked out, today-Susie felt the freedom of cancelling plans and instead being able to spend time with her friends.

Every other year, this day was spent in the clammy darkness of the Derry Town Hall, playing Lobster #2 or something equally dismal. It seemed that the second she had success, she found she no longer wanted it in quite that way.

Standing with Bill, Beverly, Stan, Mike and Ben, and watching Richie trying to steal instruments off the band members, she felt a better type of happiness.

It just meant avoiding Mrs. Turnbull, the production director, potentially for the rest of her life. A small price to pay, really.

The Losers were hanging out in the meat delivery alleyway; Mike had to do one final drop-off before the butchery closed for the afternoon. On the brick wall, a missing poster for Eddie Corcoran, a small 13-year-old boy that went to their school. Susie had walked past him countless times in the hallway, yet never said hi. None of the Losers had had a conversation with the kid, but they all felt horrible about his disappearance anyway. He was a good boy.

"Apparently, they found his hand all chewed up by the standpipe," Stan muttered, shivering.

Bill walked over and lifted up the poster. Underneath, a missing poster in a similar fashion made for Betty Ripsom. "It's like she's been f-f-for-forgotten because Corcoran's missing." He shrugged and let the poster fall back down, covering Betty's face with Eddie's.

Susie sighed. "I mean, it's a huge wall, right? Why stack them when there's plenty of room. They could easily go side by side. Just, logistically, you know, it doesn't…" She trailed off, realising with the blank stares she got that maybe she had missed the point.

She instead wandered out into the parade, where Richie was wrestling a trumpet player for his instrument. He got a hold of it and played a few flat notes before Susie reached out and plucked it from his grasp, wiping the mouthpiece with the bottom of her shirt. She handed it back to the man in uniform, herding Richie back to the group.

As they arrived, Eddie reappeared with two ice-creams. He handed one to Richie, and started licking on his own. Eddie started talking to the group, but Susie looked long and hard at those two ice-creams, slightly upset and trying not to drool.

The gang were going on about the disappearances again, but Susie had an idea. She felt in her pocket, and came up with enough money to see it through. Grinning to herself, she ran down to the ice-cream truck Eddie had gone two and handed over enough money for six plain vanilla soft serves. The man in the truck grumbled, but eventually handed over the goods. Balancing them awkwardly along her arm, she went back around the corner. The Losers had fell into a lull of silence, all looking very pensive and dramatic, but looked up when they heard her coming. Susie handed out the ice-creams to Ben, Beverly, Mike, Stan, and Bill and kept the last one for herself, sticking her tongue out to Richie and Eddie at the end.

With ice-creams in tow, the group relocated to a bench table in the sun. "So, what, it comes out for like a year to eat kids and then what? It goes into hibernation?"

Susie paused mid-lick. "What the fuck did I miss?"

Ben shrugged. "A lot. Worth it though," he said to his half-eaten ice-cream. He looked back up to Susie. "This clown we've all been seeing, it's why all these kids are going missing. It comes out to feed every 27 years."

Susie frowned. "Yuck. So what, we wait it out then? Go stay out of town for a few days to be safe?"

"I don't know," Mike shrugged. "My grandfather thinks this town is cursed. He says that all the bad things that happen in this town are because of one thing. An evil thing, that feeds off the people of Derry."

"Who ya gonna call?" She paused. "No? Okay."

"But it can't be one thing," Stan insisted. "We've all seen something different."

But Mike was onto something. "Well, maybe. But maybe it just knows what scares us most."

Susie couldn't help but think of the **FAG** , in her father's handwriting on the fridge. And the shark that appeared right after she shared the story with Stan. Mike was right.

"I saw a leper." Eddie stared intently at Mike. "It was like a walking infection."

Stan shook his head. "But you _didn't_. Because it isn't real. None of this is. Not Eddie's leper, or Bill seeing Georgie, or… Or the woman I keep seeing."

Richie squinted at him. "Is she hot?"

Stan stared at Richie in disbelief as the rest of the Losers groaned. "No, Richie. She's not hot! Her face is all messed up. None of this makes any sense. They're all like bad dreams."

Susie shook her head. "I don't think they are, Stan. I know the difference between a nightmare and reality, you know?"

Eddie furrowed his brows and stared at Susie. "We all saw that shark, but what'd you see, Susie?"

She numbly shook her head. Whenever someone got close to finding out, she would always feel a cold liquid rush in the middle of her chest, as if the truth was coming up her throat. She looked to Bill, who nodded at her reassuringly. She needed to tell them; the others had already given their trust to the group. "I…am dating someone my dad doesn't approve of. I got home one night, and he had written in sharpie all over the walls that he knew. He's never beaten me before, but he's a very hateful man. I was terrified, but the next day, there was no sign of it. I looked, and he didn't even have a sharpie in his office. And I know what you mean, Stan. After the fact, it can seem like it was never there. But that night… I could smell it. It stained my fingers. It was real."

He looked at her in a new light, nodding.

The group lapsed into an awkward silence before Mike piped up. "You know that burnt down house on Harris Avenue? I was there when it burned down. My parents, they were trapped in the next room over, banging on the doors, trying to get to me. But it was too hot. By the time I was rescued, their skin had melted down to the bone." Susie reached out a hand and placed it over his. He sighed. "We're all afraid of something."

Richie, more focussed on the circus show than on Mike's harrowing story, let out a nervous laugh. "You got that right."

Eddie knocked shoulders with him. "Why, Rich? What are you scared of?"

Richie, quieter than usual, pushed his glasses up with one hand. Normally a sign a classic Richie one-liner was coming, his hand was shaking. "Clowns."

Susie had promised Bill an explanation, and it was the afternoon of the fourth of July that he came over to her house. Jenny was coming later to stay the night again, but Susie wanted a chance to chat to Bill first.

He had biked over, and she poured them glasses of Coke with ice before they sat together on the couch in the living room.

"Girl troubles, huh?" Bill laughed at her, relaxing into the plush cushions. "I suppose my point the other day was that I probably know more about girl troubles than you. You're the first person apart from Jen that I've told, actually. I didn't have many friends I trusted enough to tell, and my father will never find out." She chewed on her lip. "He hates faggots like us. That's something to be aware of, I suppose. You'll live your life with more people hating you than people that hate Bowers." She put on a smile and turned to face him directly. "But enough about hate, I wanna talk about love. Tell me about Stan."

Bill seemed quite surprised to be put on the spot, but a smile came to his eyes. "I d-didn't always like him like that. I luh-like girls too, I think. But he's like the s-sun. He's so wonderful, b-but I can't have him. I don't think he'd understand."

Susie nodded, and thought on it a little bit. "Jenny came up to me one day after school when no one else was around, and asked for a light. I didn't have one, but we got talking anyway, and… I couldn't stop thinking about her. I felt as though I'd be miserable if she never talked to me again. I can hardly remember how we got together, because it feels like I've known her my whole life. We were such close friends, and did everything together until we actually got together. Now it feels like if we are together in public someone'll read our minds and burn us at the stake. It's unbearable." Absentmindedly, she sipped at her Coke, which had grown watery as the ice melted. "We're going to get married, one day. I gave her a ring but we can't do anything with it, except _have_ it."

Bill smiled at her, and opened his mouth to respond, but was interrupted by the door crashing open.

In walked Jenny, sneakers, jean shorts, a t-shirt riddled with holes, and a ring on a chain around her neck. She paused when she took off her sunglasses and saw Bill sitting with Susie. She turned to Susie in question, waiting before she said anything.

Susie just nodded, and Jenny came over and sat beside her, giving her a kiss on the cheek on the way down.

"Bill wants our genius advice about pursuing a torrid love affair," Susie muttered, reaching out to hold Jenny's hand.

Jenny frowned. "Oh, I doubt _that_ ," she said, leaning back into Susie. "The only advice worth listening to here is mine, Bill. Susie didn't help out with our secret lesbian society of two at all. She just sat there and took it. What's the goss?"

Bill looked overwhelmed seeing the two girls so close and loving, but it gave him an inkling of hope. "Oh, uh, m-my friend Stan. He's-"

"A sweet piece of ass that you just _have_ to have? I understand completely." Susie rolled her eyes at Jenny's antics. "First things first, you have to accept that there's nothing wrong with you for not liking vagina."

"I…I like girls, too."

Jenny gasped. Bill shrunk back, expecting the worst. "Two for the price of one? Sweet. Okay, let's call this… Operation Steal Stan. Operation Stan-Attack. The Matchmaker Mission. Anyone?"

In the end, the three of them got on like a house on fire, and Bill stayed so long he had to call his dad to come pick him up, otherwise he'd break curfew.

The next day the Losers convened in Bill's dad's garage. The projector was set up, and a slide of Derry's streets was slotted in, courtesy of Ben's research collection. Bill adjusted the projector against a large poster of Derry's sewer system.

In Susie's opinion, this didn't make out for a very fun day. She helped Mike pull down the garage door to cut out the sun, and a bit of the blaring heat, and took a seat on a lawn chair beside Eddie. The rest of the group seemed far more invested in this than she was, and she begun to wonder if she was missing some vital piece of information that made the sewers a fun time.

But then Bill began pointing out all the locations the kids had gone missing from, and the dots began to connect. This meant Susie realised they were looking at a map of the sewers because the creepy-clown-evil-thing attacked from the sewers. It was quite obvious, actually.

Bill pointed at the map. "Everywhere _it_ happens, it's all connected by the sewers. And they all lead to-"

Ben interjected. "The Well House!"

Stan turned to him. "That well is in the house in Neibolt Street."

"Okay, fuck that." Susie frowned. "Let's just take a detour in the sewers. Go _around_ , you know. Not _in_."

Richie paused. "Wait, that one where all the junkies and hobos used to sleep?"

Eddie frantically scrabbled at the zip on his fanny pack to pull out his inhaler. He took a deep huff, and put the back of his hand over his mouth. "That's where I saw it," his voice weaker than ever. "That's where I saw the clown."

Bill nodded. "That's where it lives."

Susie frowned. "You think? I mean, my friends and I went in there for a dare last Halloween, and it doesn't really have any…facilities. Like, no kitchen or bathroom. It's pretty poor real-estate." She sighed slowly, still staring at the map. "So, it doesn't shower, or brush its teeth. I mean, I suppose it doesn't need a fully furnished kitchen if its eating children, right? Still, doesn't seem pleasant." She turned to Ben. "Wait a minute, you said it hibernates for 27 years. I didn't see any signs of life in that place apart from rats. You couldn't realistically be asleep in there for 3 decades, it's just not happening. Although-"

Eddie jumped up in front of the map. "Can we stop talking about this? I- I- I can barely breathe, this is summer, we're _kids_ , I can barely breathe, I'm having a fucking asthma attack! I am _not_ doing this!" He turned to the map and ripped it off the wall.

"What the hell!" Bill cried out. "Put the map back!"

Eddie just shook his head. The lights shining on his face began to change, as the projector started moving on its own. A few blank slides showed before Denbrough family photos began showing up. Susie jumped up and tugged Eddie back into his seat, standing up with Bill to try and stop it.

"What happened?" Bill just shook his head in confusion. Susie sighed and opened the back of the projector where the batteries sat. "It's… It's not on…" Susie muttered to herself, and stood back up, seeing a serious of photos taken of the Denbrough family outside a church. The wind was blowing hair over Mrs. Denbrough's face, and it moved slide by slide.

The projector sped up, hair parting to reveal the painted face of a clown. White skin and bright red paint lining his cheeks and lips. But those eyes, Susie had seen before. Those yellow, glowing eyes.

She crouched down again, ripping the batteries out of their sockets. They clattered uselessly on the floor, but the projector simply sped up, revealing more of the clown's face. Everyone had left their seats, slowly moving to the back of the room, but Susie stood frozen. Its warped grin, complete with a jutted-out chin and buckteeth and the strange dirty, silver costume it was wearing made for an unsettling image, but she couldn't get her feet to move. Beverly was screaming at her to turn it off, and in a panic, she hit her fist against the lens, hoping to break the bulb.

It was Mike that managed to stop the film running. He kicked the projector onto its side, and for a moment, the garage wall was blank. Susie felt like she was waking from a bad dream, but the dread in the back of her throat was still there.

The projector clicked again. Susie glanced down to see all of the slides had fallen out. A picture of the clown, blurred in motion, came up on the screen.

"Oh god," Susie moaned quietly, and the room went black. Most of the group were huddled against the wall. In the single moment of silence, Susie realised she was alone in the middle of the room.

When the projector turned on, Susie let out a guttural scream. The clown had become alive, its head sticking out of the wall, eyes wide in glee and his open grin lined with sharp teeth.

Those eyes locked onto her. He let out an unsettling laugh, and as the projector flashed on and off, the clown crawled his way out of the wall. Susie tried to scramble backwards, not wanting to take her eyes off the monstrosity, but the room felt a hundred times longer than it did before.

It was when she saw the clown pulling his knees through the wall, and speeding up, that Susie turned and sprinted towards the other Losers, who were clutching onto each other at the far end of the garage.

She felt a tight grip on her right leg and fell to the concrete floor, smacking her face. She felt the impact of her nose hitting the floor, and then heard another inhuman laugh as she was dragged back towards the screen. She screamed, arms and legs flailing, wriggling furiously to escape. She looked up, desperate to find something to save her, and caught sight of Mike struggling to open the garage door.

A final burst of courage and adrenaline rushed through her, and this time when she kicked out at the hand around her leg, she felt free air around it. A crack of light blinded her as Mike shoved open the door, revealing a group of shaken teens, but no monster.

Panting heavily, Susie turned onto her back, looking back at the wall, projector still shining, but blank. The others had cleared the room as soon as they had the strength to stand up, and no one but Susie saw the projector's final image. A split-second, but enough to see that it was a photo of Jenny and Susie, arms wrapped around each other, Susie grinning for the camera and Jenny planting a kiss on her cheek. A photo that only Jenny owned.

Bill came back in when Susie hadn't come out by herself. She met him at the entrance to the garage, and they walked out silently to meet the rest of the group. Her face was wet, with both blood from her nose and tears, and an angry bruise was starting to appear in a thick ring around her right leg.

The gang stood in shock, no one saying a word. The hot sun blazed down on them, but it wasn't the only thing making them sweat. Eddie reached into his fanny pack and retrieved a packet of disinfectant wipes. She smiled at him and took one, after a moment of cleaning her face, going back for a second wipe.

When the kids had calmed down a bit, Susie went over to Mike and gave him a tight hug. He wrapped his arms around her after a moment, but clearly not understanding. She leant back. "Thank God we found you, Mike, you just saved our asses twice in less than an hour." She gave him a final squeeze and stood back.

Eddie, pocketing the wipes, but keeping his inhaler close at hand, looked around the group. "It saw us. It saw us, and it knows where we live!"

Bill stood up straight and nodded resolutely. "It always did," he replied, and went to grab his bicycle. "So, we go. Go to Neibolt."

Stan stared at him in disbelief. "After that?"

"Yeah, it's summer. We should be outside-" Richie complained, but it was dull and fearful.

"If y-you say it's summer one more f-f- _fucking_ time…" He shook his head but didn't finish, instead grabbing his bike and disappearing down the street.

Susie groaned. "Fuck, we're going to have to follow him, aren't we?"

Beverly's answer was to hop on her bike, following him.

"Fuck." She stated one more time. "We're going to have to follow him."

That's it, fellas. Chapter 6. If you have thoughts, let me know, but chances are I'll have started working on another chapter so get in fast!


	7. Chapter 7

Chapter 7

Hi peoples! I'm extremely proud of this chapter, Neibolt house is always a huge scene in any fanfic, so I wanted to do it justice, and also change things up a bit. Enjoy!

Neibolt Street wasn't far from Bill's house, so there wasn't enough time for Susie to reconsider the decision she had made. The group arrived in front of the dilapidated house just as Bill was about to open the front door.

"Bill, _wait_!" Beverly was the first to call out to him, dumping her bike against the rusty fence. "You can't go in there! This is crazy!"

The rest of the group caught up and joined Beverly on the edge of the property. Bill turned to face them, standing on the front steps of the house. "Look, you don't have to go in with me," he began. "But what happens when another Georgie goes missing? Or another Betty, or another Ed Corcoran, or one of us? Are you just going to pretend it isn't happening like everyone else in this town? Because I can't." The Losers were standing silent, and Bill sighed. "I go home, and all I see is that Georgie's not there. His clothes, his toys, his stupid stuffed animals are. But he isn't. So, walking into this house, for me, is easier than walking into my own." With tears in his eyes, he gave them a final solemn stare before turning back around to the front door.

"Wow," Richie muttered, "he didn't stutter once."

And although fear and shock had made Susie's legs stiff, and although she could hear the blood rushing in her eyes, there was only one thing worse than walking into the Neibolt Street house. And that was Bill walking in there alone. She pushed to the front of the group and up the steps to Bill, putting her arm around his shoulders and giving him a tight squeeze. He smiled weakly at her, and she turned back around to the group. "We're friends. We're a team. We stick together in this, and if one of us needs help, the rest will give it. Because, I'm sorry, but no one else will."

They started to join her on the steps, but Stan stayed frozen. "Wait!" They waited. "Shouldn't… shouldn't someone stay outside and keep watch? You know, in case something happens."

Susie nodded. "Sure, Stan. Who wants to stay here with Stan and keep watch?"

Everyone else apart from Beverly raised their hands. Susie sighed. "Okay, new question, who wants to come in with Bill and I?" No hands. She rolled her eyes. "Guess we go short straw, then."

The house on Neibolt street was infamous in the small town of Derry. Susie had been in there on several occasions as a kid, each time no less scary than the last. The grass and weeds alike were dead and yellowed, and naked trunks with gnarly branches sat on either side of the three-story house. The wooden panels that made up the exterior had not a single fleck of paint left, there was no window left unbroken, and litter from the hobos and junkies who regularly crashed there fluttered in the breeze against the dry ground.

It wasn't a place anyone would be proud of. No one owned it, but it hadn't been on the market for decades. The only reason it hadn't been demolished to rebuild was the apathy of the town council. It was a festering, rotten leg that wasn't worth the money to amputate it.

The inside was equally disgusting, and it was only a few minutes later that Eddie and Richie joined Bill and Susie in the cobwebbed entranceway of the house. Susie regretted her choice of sundress, because while the burning heat outside was making those keeping watch sweaty and restless, it was freezing inside the Neibolt house. Her nose had begun dripping again, but she couldn't be bothered to do any more than wipe it off with the back of her hand. The house had no distinguishing furnishings to identify any rooms, yet the house seemed ominously full nevertheless. The floorboards were covered in a thick layer of dead leaves, which came from leafy vines winding around the walls and ceiling. Cobwebs covered the few pieces of furniture there were, and the only signs of life were rats and spiders. Susie shivered, trying to rub the goosebumps on her arms away.

"Can't believe _I_ pulled the short straw. You guys are lucky we're not measuring dicks."

"Shut up, Richie." The weak attempt at humor and typical rebuttal by Eddie fell away into the suffocating silence of the house, and the four lapsed into quiet again.

The house felt occupied, but not exactly lived-in. Susie got the kind of vibe like they were attending their own funeral. It did at the very least smell like death.

"I can smell it," Eddie moaned, hand over his nose.

"Just don't breathe through your mouth." Richie waited for Eddie to look at him in confusion before sending a wicked grin. "Because then you're eating it."

Susie scrunched up her nose in distaste as Eddie gagged. She joined Bill at the base of the stairs. "Reckon Georgie and Betty could be here?" He shrugged, wary but hopeful, and Susie began exploring what looked like a living room, with dusty couches and a side table. On the table sat a newspaper. Susie picked it up, letting out a small chuckle as she imagined the clown sitting down with a cup of tea and a cookie, reading the daily news. It was tomorrow's date, which caused her to frown, and sit down on the moldy sofa to take a closer look at it. Her breath hitched when she saw a photo of herself on the front-page article. Her yearbook photo of this year on the left, and a black-and-white, slightly blurry snap of a bruised and bloody body, brown hair wet and red and covering the face.

Susie failed to notice the boys had congregated on the other side of the stairs, with Richie discovering a missing poster of himself. She was too busy with her own news. The headline printed in bold capitals: **DERRY HIGH QUEER FOUND DEAD IN ABANDONED HOUSE**

And the subtitle: **POLICE SUSPECT FATHER IN THIS BRUTAL BEATING**

In shock, Susie dropped the paper, and looked up to see Eddie still comforting Richie on the other side of the house, but Bill standing right in front of her. She felt her cheeks grow wet as he quietly picked up the paper. His eyes widened as he read it, and Susie watched, chest heaving, as he ripped it in half down the middle. He dropped the pieces and held his hand out to her. "I-it's not real. _It_ 's playing tricks on us."

Susie shook her head, ignoring Bill's hand. She got up off the couch and stalked across the room towards the front door, which had fallen shut. "Fuck this," she called out to the boys, pausing with her hand on the doorknob. "We had our fun, playing ghostbusters, but now the gig is up. I love you, Bill, and it breaks my heart what happened to Georgie, but if this thing got him it's too fucking late, and I'm not dying over this." She sniffed, and looked at each of the boys individually. Bill was disappointed but not unkind, Eddie just seemed concerned, and Richie looked like he was considering leaving himself.

Just as Susie was about to turn the knob, she heard a voice call out from upstairs.

"Hello?" The voice was far away and muddled, but there was no mistaking it. Betty Ripsom was upstairs and she was alive.

Susie's hand fell from the doorknob. She took a deep breath, summoning every ounce of courage she had left. "Bill, I take it back. Let's go kill this fucker and save these kids." With that, she ran across the foyer and up the stairs, the others following quickly behind.

There were two flights of stairs, neither looking particularly safe, so Susie had to slow down to a careful walk as she took them two by two, Betty calling out all the while.

There was a long hallway to go down to get to the half-open door the noise was coming from. Betty was lying on the ground, coughing up water, hair and clothes dirtied. The air left Susie's lungs in a big rush. "Betty, you're okay now. We'll take you home."

She was halfway down the corridor when Betty was dragged back, letting out a scream as something tugged her away. " _Betty?!_ " There was no answer.

Susie turned back to look at the boys behind her. Richie and Bill were side-by-side, right behind her. But Eddie was way back, distracted, looking at something else. Susie remembered the newspaper. What Bill had said. It was playing tricks on them, and Betty may or may not have been one of them. Eddie was real, 100%.

She pushed between Bill and Richie, the pair continuing on towards the room Betty was in.

She called out to him, but he didn't seem to hear. As he walked closer to the window, he reached into his fanny pack for his inhaler. Susie was about to call out for a second time, when she heard her own name from further upstairs. The voice was familiar, _so_ familiar, and reluctantly she turned from Eddie and went back to the foot of the stairs.

Standing with her head poked over the banister, red hair dangling in front of her face, was Jenny. Jenny called out to Susie again, and waved her hand in a 'come-hither' gesture.

"Jen, what are you doing up there? What's going on?"

Jenny pulled back the hair from her face, and Susie realized with a start that it was frozen in fear, with a tear drop hanging on her jaw, about to drop.

Susie began taking the stairs two-at-a-time, still making sure they weren't going to fall out beneath her. "Jenny, are you alright? Oh my god, how did you get here?"

There was a skylight on the ceiling above the staircase, and the light pouring in made it difficult to see Jenny's face properly as she got closer.

Susie turned the corner onto the same flight of stairs Jenny was on, and squinted her eyes, trying to make out her expression. Still climbing, but slower now, Susie reached out a hand to Jenny.

Somewhere in the back of her head, Susie wondered where the rest of the boys were. She was alone up here. A hand reached back to her.

Covered in a white glove.

Susie's head flew up to Jenny's face in confusion, now just one step below her, a foot away. The face of the clown stared back at her, mouth open, a childish giggle making the string of drool hanging from his lips wobble.

Susie drew her hand back in shock, and began to fall backwards. The sudden burst of fear made everything crystal clear to her; the figure she thought was Jenny was much too tall, the head too large, the arms too long. In those terrifying seconds of air, when she couldn't decide whether falling or him catching her was better, she let out a scream, hoping to attract the attention of the boys on the floor below them.

A hand shot out, fingers reaching for her face, but she was falling too fast and they clutched uselessly at the ends of her hair.

The fall didn't hurt until she stopped falling, and that was when she crashed against the wall where the stairs turned.

Susie scrambled to get her feet under her as the monstrous being above her rolled his glowing yellow eyes back to reveal all whites, like a shark before it attacks.

The first time Susie heard it speak, it made the world stand still. Her rushing blood slowed down in her veins, her heart was beating in slow-motion, her breath sounded far away to her own ears. "Marry me, Jenny," its voice was mocking and dripping with sarcasm, and each large, lumbering step it took down the stairs towards her was overplayed, a hand reaching into the layers of ruffles at his waist. His face crumpled in a feigned look of romance. " _Just for us_ ," he whined, and pulled out a silver chain from his suit, on the end of which hung a bloodied silver band.

Susie let out a strangled moan, legs finally finding purchase on the dusty floorboards and she darted past his outstretched arm and down the stairs, skipping the floor she thought the boys were on, going all the way down to the bottom and out the front door.

Squinting in the sudden daylight, she saw the figures of Ben, Mike, Stan and Beverly waiting anxiously on the front steps. "Help us, please, it's in there," her voice was cracking and desperate as she gasped her air. The four of them jumped up and followed her back inside.

Planning to go up the stairs, Susie skidded to a halt, Mike knocking into the back of her, as she caught sight of Bill and Richie standing across from the clown, who had Eddie cowering behind him. Looking around wildly, Susie caught sight of a thin, metal pipe laying on the floor not far away from them.

She gestured to the four behind her to be quiet, and crept up, taking the end of the pipe in her hand, trying not to let it make a scraping noise as she picked it up. All of a sudden, the clown jumped up and ran at Bill and Richie, and Susie screamed, lifting up the rod and stabbing it right through the clown's bulbous head.

The rest of the Losers ran over to Eddie to help him out and calm him down, but Susie stood across from the clown as it whimpered. Disgusted, she let go of the rod still jammed in its head, and it staggered about, turning to face her. "Get _fucked_ ," she whispered harshly at it, and backed away to join the others before it had a chance to recover.

But recover it did. It turned back around to them, huddled against the walls, and leant over. Susie's rod had gone straight through its right eye, and goop drifted out of the wound and into the air, floating upwards. It held a hand out, and the glove split open to reveal wolf-like claws. It lunged at Eddie and those around him, then whipped his arm around to where Susie, Ben, Mike and Stan were. It let out a laugh as it caught Susie's arm, slashing three angry lines through her flesh and muscle.

She screamed and fell back onto the floor, clutching at her elbow. Through her hazed vision, she saw the injured clown backing away, and Bill chasing after it. She tried to call out to him, but nothing came out. Stan and Mike were on either side of her, lifting her up and outside into the fresh, humid air. The light brightened, making it harder to see faces, and eventually a sharp whiteness took over her vision, and Susie passed out.

When Susie awoke, she felt motion beneath her. A hand was clutching hers, and she reached out blindly with her other hand to find out who it belonged to. A boy's voice called out her name.

The colors all around her slowly came into focus and she saw Eddie's worried face above hers. She blinked hard, and went to squeeze on his hand but let out a dull scream when the muscles in her upper arm burned with pain. She slowly sat herself upright, realizing she was in someone's car.

She squinted into the front seat. Mrs. Kaspbrak's car. "What is…" She couldn't even finish a sentence, but luckily Eddie understood.

"You're okay, Suse. We're going to the hospital. You're okay."

She nodded lightly and a weak smile came to her lips, only to fall away again when the events leading up to this came back to her. She gasped. "Jenny? Where's Jenny?"

"Who?" The sunlight on her cheek and Eddie's hand grasping hers was the last things she felt before the white fog took her again.

She had to stay in the hospital overnight, and that evening, once she had come to, the Losers came and visited. Eddie had his arm in a pristine white cast; he said it had broken when he fell through the second-story floor. As soon as the nurses left, the group took turns filling her in on what happened to them at Neibolt.

Eddie also told her what had happened to her. "They've given you stitches, I think 20-something of them, all over your arm. It looks like Frankenstein's monster under there, it's awful."

She laughed. "Well then, I thank science for inventing pain medication. I feel like I'm sitting on a cloud."

They stayed for a couple hours, Stan leaving early to practice for his bar mitzvah that was coming up in a few days. The rest of them laughed and joked, but the clown was on all of their minds. And another, more visceral tension lay in the room too.

"What's up with you guys?" Susie asked seriously, but they all gave her blank, if slightly guilty, stares. "You guys seem…different. Angry. What happened after I left?"

None of them could meet her eye. It was Richie, to her shock, that finally answered. "We had a difference of opinions on what we should do about the clown. I say fuck him, I'd rather stay alive. Others in the group would disagree with me. Don't worry about it," he finished weakly, staring defensively at Bill.

It took a while for the dots to connect in her drug-riddled brain, but eventually Susie understood what had happened between the two boys, and the rest of the group too. There was a divide now; opposing sides. She just didn't know which one to pick.

In the end, as closing hours were finishing, it was just her and Bill in the room. He gingerly sat on the edge of the bed, dodging all the wires and tubes going in and out of her. "Eddie said you w-were calling for Juh-Jenny the whole ride to the hospital." He looked down, sucking on his bottom lip. They sat in silence for a moment, but Susie felt the dread of what might come next. "I tried to go look for her, g-get her to come v-visit you. She's gone, Susie. They haven't filed a m-missing person's just yet, but th-this was in her room." He pulled out the ring on a silver chain that the clown had mocked her with in the house, but this time it was real. "I'm so sorry, Suse."

She didn't sleep much in the hospital that night.

Chapter 8 might take a little longer, I've written about 20k words over the holidays but now I'm going back into school and into a particular busy week. So, we'll see. I can promise it won't take longer than maybe 4 days, I just have to put in time where I have it.

Let me know who you want Susie to hang out with in these upcoming times where the Losers have broken up. She'll definitely be helping Stan with his bar mitzvah, but I can have her hang out with any loser (or non-loser) you want.

(Also, sidenote: you may have noticed Susie's lack of interaction with the bowers gang. I know some people in the IT fandom have the hots for them, even hockstetter, but I honestly don't give a shit about them, and they'll be getting no extra scene-time in this fic.)

Let me know who else should get taken by Penny? Keep it as Bev, change it to Suse, or someone else completely! I have a few cheeky ideas for some ways to change that plotline, but I'd love to hear your thoughts!


	8. Chapter 8

Chapter 8

Enjoy!

Maybe it was the overwhelming amount of pain meds she was on, or maybe Susie had finally grown a backbone after all, but approximately 35 minutes after she was released from hospital, Susie found herself on the doorstep of the Neibolt house the morning after she last visited.

The house, at least from the outside, looked the same as it was, but it no longer felt as mysterious and frightening to her. The clown had taken Jenny, and she needed to get her back.

While back at the hospital, getting changed back into the dirty, stained sundress she had worn when she arrived, the nurse had offered to call someone to pick her up. Susie was tempted to call one of the Losers to come look for Jenny with her, but before she could decide which one, she had rattled off Jenny's home phone number without even thinking.

Mrs. Ripsom answered through a thick layer of sobbing and sniffling. The mother, now alone in that large house, had filed a missing person's report earlier that morning. Both her kids were now being searched for by Derry's finest policeman.

So, here Susie stood, alone. She had no plans for what she was going to do if she didn't find anything. Truthfully, she didn't know what to do if she _did_ find something. It wasn't logical or safe being here, but she couldn't help herself.

The door was slightly open, hanging on its hinges, and without pausing to rethink, Susie pushed on in. She didn't want to call out, for fear of being answered by something other than Jenny, so she silently crept the stairs to the second floor, then the third where the clown had appeared to her.

There was only the one room up here, and apart from a single armchair, it was empty. The chair looked old, fabric worn down thin and grey. The once-thick cushioning on the seat had a very distinct outline pressed into this. Was this the clown's butt-print?

The final dregs of fear and doubt fell away as Susie's chuckling echoed down the empty stairs. Susie let the stress and tension from the past few weeks fall out in her laughter, and it was only when her cheeks were wet and sore from grinning that she stopped, still imagining the domestic scene of a murderous clown reclined in an old-lady armchair.

The need to look for Jenny felt distant and no longer urgent, as if there was no real danger in the house, and Susie had to pinch herself to remember that wasn't true. Children had died; had been murdered and _eaten,_ and her girlfriend would be one of them if she didn't act fast.

Slapping herself lightly on her cheeks for clarity, she padded back down the stairs. Being here was stupid, and she should've called Bill or Stan or someone and got their parents to pick her up. What she needed wasn't a dramatic rescue mission, it was some sleep. She couldn't exactly leave the police department to handle it, but she couldn't help all hopped up on painkillers.

The second floor still had a large hole punched through the boards where Eddie must've fallen, and the debris could be seen once she reached the main entrance. Out of curiosity, Susie turned the corner and into the room where the old couch was, looking for the ripped-up newspaper. It wasn't there.

This made everything seem final. The confrontation was over; it was clear the clown wasn't in the house anymore.

She sat down on the dusty couch, wondering where her friends would be. After the fight, she didn't suppose they'd still be in the Barrens, happy as Larry. They didn't really have anyone except each other, but now that tight bond had shattered.

Resting her chin in her hands, she absentmindedly glanced around the room. She hadn't paid much attention last time, too freaked out of her mind to really pay attention to _anything_ , but apparently, she hadn't missed much. This place was a dumpster and really nothing more.

She could've explored while she was there, but there didn't seem to be much point. Neibolt house wasn't a monster anymore, just a skeleton.

The fresh air outside wafted in through a broken window, and Susie felt it was time to leave. Go home, get some sleep, and the next day she could gather any willing participants to look for Jenny.

Except, she mused to herself as she left the house and began walking to her house, only Bill even knew about Jenny. Things were sharpening to a point as the net tightened around the group, and it was time for some secrets to be revealed.

Just not today.

When Susie awoke, it was to a shrill ringing in her ear. The phone receiver was rattling on its handle, and in a daze, she picked it up, sitting up in her bed. "Mmhm?"

It was Stan, his voice frantic. "Can you come around, Suse? The bar mitzvah's tomorrow and I spent so long trying to read the fucking Torah that I don't have my speech rehearsed. You said you didn't mind helping, but that was a while ago. Suse?"

"Oh, absolutely, where are you? Your house or the church?"

"The synagogue, Susie."

"Oh, right, I'll be there in ten."

"No, I mean, I'm at home, but it's called a synagogue, not a church."

"Shit. Okay, well in that case I'll see you at your house, not the synagong."

"Synago-"

Susie had put the receiver down before Stan could correct her, and rushed to tie the laces on her sneakers. It felt great to have a friend needing your help, and although she was exhausted, it meant getting her mind off the growing list of traumatic events she had been through. She dry-swallowed some pills for her ever-aching arm on the way out.

The bike ride was oddly brisk, and the wind cut right through her, making her skin erupt in goosebumps. Stan's house, luckily, wasn't far at all, and she braked to a stop just over 7 minutes later.

Stan answered the door with a relieved smile, which fell as soon as his eyes landed on her. "Why are you in pyjamas?"

Frowning, Susie looked down at herself to see the cotton t-shirt and linen shorts she had forgotten to change out of. "A…fashion statement."

Stan quickly turned his head away from her, ushering her in, a pink blush on his cheeks. "Do you want to borrow a sweater?" When she shrugged no, he lightly coughed. "Just, uh, seems like it was cold outside. So, maybe before you meet my dad you could put on a sweater."

Susie caught onto his drift quickly, but didn't want to look down again to confirm. Somehow, embarrassment was easier to swallow when you didn't see it. "I would just love a sweater right now, Stan. Apologies."

He darted into the side-closet by the front door, pulling out a perfectly ironed beige sweater, small enough that it was clearly Stan's. Susie put it on with a grateful and apologetic smile, and they made their way out to the kitchen to say hi to Stan's creepy rabbi dad before retreating to the safety of Stan's room.

Stan's room was really no surprise if you were around him for more than five minutes: all neutral tones, tidy furniture, and a neat little bookcase on the far wall, where all the books were arranged in height order.

On his bed were a mess of little white cue cards. Susie frowned. "I don't know how much help I'll be, Stan. You know I know nothing about your religion."

Stan shook his head, gathering up the cue cards. "Don't worry, I've written it. I just…" His curls shook as he gestured desperately. "I don't think I can give it. It's too important, what if I screw up? I can't mess up in front of that massive crowd, not with my dad watching. Not with who he is to them."

Susie collapsed on his upturned bed, thinking. "Tell me a secret; something that you'd never ever want to tell someone. I absolutely I swear I'll tell no one, and not judge you." At his wary look, she nodded seriously. "Just trust me. Something you're embarrassed or ashamed about, or scared to admit."

He took a deep breath and put his hands on his hips, working up the courage. "I… I turn the lights on and off again three times every night before bed." Without making eye-contact, he continued, voice barely audible. "If I don't, I can't get to sleep because I'm so worried something bad will happen." He shrugged and timidly rose his eyes to hers.

She grinned at him. "Okay, that's fine. In fact, if you think about it, it's cool that you have this guaranteed way to make yourself feel comforted and safe. It isn't a barrier, it's a safety blanket."

"And?"

"You're so worried about the marathon, that you haven't realized you've already gone to the Olympics."

"Excuse me?"

Susie grimaced. "Shitty metaphor. What I mean is, you are all wound up about this speech. It means so much to you that you've stacked all this pressure onto yourself. But you just displayed an extreme amount of courage in sharing a deeply personal secret with me. That was a lot more intimate than what you'll be saying at the bar mitzvah. So, don't beat yourself up about this speech, because you've done something much harder. Now, you know for sure that you can do it tomorrow, because, in a way, you already have."

He slowly sat down next to her. For a few moments, Susie and Stan sat in amiable silence, Suse feeling like a total mother duck.

"That doesn't make any sense, Suse."

"Damnit."

The pair were in Stan's room from the early afternoon until after curfew, so Susie couldn't leave the house unless a parent took her. Her father was on the way, and Stan had promised that he'd help get the gang together for Susie's 'important announcement' after his bar mitzvah the next morning.

Susie needed to look for her girlfriend, but she couldn't do it alone. Though the thought made her shaky from the inside out, she knew it was time to tell them the truth.

And perhaps it was selfish of her, but she wanted people to lean on, people that already knew, when she told the whole group. Stan turned his lights on and off every night, but Susie needed some sort of safety blanket too.

So, the familiar rising sicky feeling in her chest signified it was time. Her dad wouldn't be long in the car, so it was now or never.

"I bet you're wondering what the mystery meeting I've called is about, huh?"

Stan noticed her demeanor had changed, and he simply nodded, letting her talk if she wished.

"Another kid has gone missing. Jenny Ripsom."

"We're going to get the Losers together to look for her?" Stan looked slightly sickened at the prospect, but he understood.

"That's… not the only thing. Jenny, well, she's my girlfriend." Now it was Susie's turn to find the floor very interesting.

Stan shuffled back across his bed and put his arms around her. Shocked, Susie looked up at him, holding onto his arm. Stan grinned at her. "Congratulations. Although Richie probably wouldn't admit it, you're the only one of us Losers who is getting some."

A surprised laugh escaped her before she could smother it. She let her face grow solemn again. "So, you don't hate me? I'm not the scum of the earth?"

"If you're the scum of the earth, it's definitely for different reasons than that. Of course I don't hate you, Suse. You're my friend, and I love you." Stan paused. "And I think I would be honestly a little hypocritical if I did," he confessed.

Susie pulled him into a side hug, realizing the ramifications. Bill was like her. Stan was like her. Bill liked Stan. The possibilities were endless, but maybe best kept for another, less life-and-death time.

When her dad picked her up to take her home, her and Stan shared a hug tighter than they had ever before, and the floating in her chest couldn't even be brought down by her father's negativity.

Stan's bar mitzvah went incredibly, and both Susie and Richie sat proud in the pews.

Afterwards, the three of them stood in the yard behind the synagogue in the delicate sunlight.

It was nice to chat together, but they knew it wasn't the same. Richie had turned up to support Stan without even realizing their plans, and they were going back to his house once the full service was over, to call the others. Richie said he had only spent time with Eddie in the past couple days, which wasn't surprising, and Stan had bumped into Ben at the library, but that was all.

Stan and Susie didn't lie to Richie about why the group was reuniting; they _were_ getting together to look for the other Ripsom girl, after all.

It took an extremely long time to get the group together, but that was mostly because of the convincing it took for each member when they found out it was another rescue mission. It hadn't gone that well last time.

But once they all sat in Richie's den, piled up together on couches and bean bags, Susie stood up in front of them. She planned to do it like a Band-Aid and pray for the best. "Today we are going clown-hunting, right into the monster's lair to find Jenny Ripsom, and any other missing kids we can find. This mission is of extra importance because Jenny is my girlfriend and I love her very much. Questions?"

The extended silence was very uncomfortable, but Susie had to admit to herself it was extremely satisfying. Beverly and Ben both seemed in mild shock, but not overly alarmed, Mike seemed sympathetic and was smiling supportively at her, Eddie's eyes were flying all over the place, calculating and analyzing, mouth slowly falling open. Richie seemed to be the most affected by it. He glanced up at her. "That's… what if you go to hell, though? It's wrong?"

Susie took a deep breath. "Don't worry, Rich, I'll save you a seat down there if that's where I find myself. And I don't know, it certainly doesn't feel wrong to me."

"But you fuck another chick?"

"Oh, absolutely. Loads of fun, you should try it." Richie was struggling. Susie could tell. "If you need time to think things over, I'll wait as long as you need. And maybe it's just odd to you that I'm in a physical relationship because we're friends. How would you react if you found out I was having sex with a guy?"

He considered this. "Still disgusting. Okay, point taken."

"Anyway, no matter your personal opinion, I adore Jenny and I want to do everything in my power to save her, and I'd really appreciate if I had my friends with me. If you'd like to stay, that's fine," she said, addressing the whole group. "I'll wait outside, and whoever wants to come and help, they can."

Before she could doubt herself, half-worried she'd float away with the burden lifted from her chest, she found her way outside, standing in Richie's front lawn.

Stan and Bill followed her immediately out, with Mike close behind. Then Beverly, Ben, and Eddie a little behind. But no Richie.

They waited in solemn silence for a few minutes. Susie had just turned away from the house when Richie burst out of the house, yelling, "Hold the fuck up, guys, I was getting snacks." He did a little jog over to Susie, pulling her into a sudden and short-lived hug before throwing his backpack into the basket on his bike. "Let's go find the fucking circus, dipshits."

Yeah, this is short, and almost completely off canon, sue me. Sorry, that was super aggressive. Darling reader, I love and adore you, but sometimes people like me, who don't plan anything, write themselves into an unfortunate fucking situation and they just have to stick with it and write themselves back out of it. No more distractions. Time to face the asshole clown.


	9. Chapter 9

The well was in the basement of the Neibolt Street house, and the group crowded around it, building up the courage to go in.

The house was cold as it always was, but a thick, wet heat emanated from the sewers below them. A rope was strung above it and vanished into the dark.

The group were walking directly into the eye of the storm, but Susie felt lighter than air; she felt liberated. For some reason, the danger of Jenny being gone for over 24 hours hadn't hit her, just the excitement to get her back. A rush of confidence, becoming solid down her spine, made her the first one to reach out for the rope. She had waited long enough.

A foot up on the rough stone, she faced the Losers. "We stick together. We don't let it get away like last time; we kill it." She was going to say more, going to say she loved them, but then it would feel final. Instead, she began her descent into the dense stink.

As he was the only one with a weapon, it was Mike that chose to go last. And it was Mike that almost died by the same weapon when Henry Bowers came out of nowhere and attacked him. The bully had tried to pull the rope out, but Susie shot forward, clinging onto it, dangling out over the edge of the pipe they were waiting on. Using the thick knots in the rope to pull herself up, she tried to be as quick but as quiet as possible so that she could catch Henry by surprise.

Unfortunately, as her arms wrapped on the lip of the well, and she tried to hook a leg up, it was her who was caught off guard. Henry was crouched over Mike, fighting him for the bolt gun, but when Susie accidentally knocked over a loose stone with her foot, Henry straightened up, and stalked over to the well. Before she could get a grip with her leg, he shoved her chest, and her hands gave way, scrabbling for the edge, for the rope, for one of the Losers' outstretched hands.

But her screams echoed in her own ears, and she fell into the darkness, seeing nothing, until a sudden impact made her world fall into a different kind of blackness.

There was no way of knowing how much time had passed when Susie awoke to a wet cheek and sore bones. Her face was lying in the greywater, and if she had the energy she would've gagged. As it was, it took everything just to roll over onto her back. There was also no way for her to know if the group had found their way down there. If Mike was okay. If Henry was still here.

Lifting a weak arm to wipe the viscous gunk off her face and out of her eyes, Susie saw what looked like floating bodies above her. Some sort of rubbish, maybe?

No. They were actual bodies. Human bodies. Children's bodies.

All the confidence Susie had before had left her in the fall, and her face became wet again, this time with silent tears that she was sobbing out.

She painfully sat up. The cold water was seeping into her clothes, and every uncovered surface was littered with raw scrapes and scratches. It didn't feel like anything was broken, which was a miracle, but her shoulder was definitely dislocated.

Doing what she could to keep it from moving, she got to her feet and looked for an exit, wanting to leave this floating graveyard. The middle of the room was filled with an impossibly tall pile of memorabilia; tricycles, teddy bears, backpacks. It took up most of the floor-space, but after slowly ambling around it, Susie realized there were no open doors. And none of the closed round doors would open. Most of them were rusted shut, and one looked like it opened from the other side, as there wasn't even a handle. Apart from the well opening she came from, and the daylight drifting from above the floating kids, the only way in or out of the room was another pipe, leading downwards.

The only thing worse than being in the clown's lair, was going even deeper into it, so Susie resolved to stay on the edge of the room, waiting for the group to arrive. She had yelled out a couple times as she was exploring the room, but it only echoed back on herself, so she imagined they probably wouldn't have heard it.

After a few minutes of Susie leaning against the curved metal, staring around the room, she noticed something familiar on the pile of kids' stuff. Near the bottom of the pile there were a pair of sandals that Susie had often seen Jenny wear.

Jenny. The reason Susie was here came rushing back to her, and she straightened up with a new-found purpose to find Jenny among the floating bodies. Some of them had limbs missing, with blood lazily spilling out in droplets, but others seemed totally unharmed. If this clown really did hibernate for almost three decades, it'd need to save up food while it was active. That meant if Jenny was here, she could still be alive.

It didn't take long to find her, in the end: after only a few minutes of squinting, it was her bright red hair that stood out most of all. Fresh tears sprung to Susie's eyes, but she wiped them away and set off to the tall structure so that she could climb it.

Before she even reached the edge, however, a little jack-in-the-box started chiming. It was on a little plateau in front of a giant wooden box, painted with stripes and a sign that read **PENNYWISE THE DANCING CLOWN.**

A laugh echoed the room as the jangly music sped up. Instinctively, Susie crept her feet back, towards the safety of the far wall. She jumped slightly when the clown popped, and an electronic-sounding voice called her name. " _Step right up, Su-sie! Step rrrrright up! They'll change, they'll float, you'll laugh, you'll cry, you'll fear, you'll dieeee…"_

The voice jumped up and down, and slowed down to a dramatic drawl. " _In-trah-ducing Pennywise the Dancing Clown!"_ It began laughing, and though it sounded altered, Susie recognized that laugh as the clown itself.

The large painted board behind the popped jack-in-the-box fell forward onto it, revealing a hellish landscape. A red-orange light shone from the back, and layers of fabric clouds and cardboard set pieces were illuminated by it.

Almost at the wall, Susie jumped back and knocked her skull against the metal when a burst of fireworks came from the front edge of the box, sizzling and lighting it up. When it dissipated, the clown stood in the middle of the makeshift stage, hands clenched in front of him. As the circus music from the jack-in-the-box started up again, this time a lot louder, to Susie's shock the clown began to dance.

The jaunty moves contrasted his dead-eyed glare directly at her. Susie remembered what all of the group had constantly told her when facing the clown. That it played tricks on them, to scare them. If it needed to scare them before eating them, then Susie had a chance if she just refused to react.

So, in an act of defiance, trying to still her fluttering heart all the while, Susie made a show of sitting down to watch, grinning at him. Although the floor was wet and disgusting, she sat, cross-legged, and waited it out.

His stare became a frown, and his eyes widened in anger and surprise, and his legs moved faster.

The ridiculousness of the whole situation dawned of Susie, and she began to laugh at the clown. The more stupid she found it, the less power it would have over it, and the more likely she'd be able to stay alive long enough for the group to find her.

Unfortunately, her laughter died down, and the clown was still going at it. It did get old quickly, and Susie was getting sick of that stupid music. In a bolt of adrenaline, she stood up and stalked across the room so she could find that damn jack-in-the-box and break it or something.

But the stupid clown, Pennywise apparently, had other plans. As Susie was halfway across the room, he leapt of the stage (quite an impressive distance if Susie was honest) and grabbed her by the throat. He lifted her into the air, cutting off her oxygen.

And although Susie wasn't really scared of Pennywise, she was a little concerned about getting choked to death. Her nails scratched at the white fabric of his gloves, and her legs kicked out at his thighs, but nothing worked. He may have been a terrible dancer, but he was strong enough to easily overpower Susie.

He began mocking her, red lips in a dramatic pout, yellow eyes wide, making over-dramatic whines and whimpers.

Maybe it was the lack of oxygen in her brain, but Susie didn't find the murderous clown as threatening as it was irritating, and sort of an asshole. At least don't make fun of someone when they're actually dying. She rolled her eyes, and Pennywise drew back in offense at the action.

He leant in, an ugly frown on his face, to sniff her. His hands tightened on her throat, and he let out a harsh grunt of anger. When he looked back it her, Susie knew exactly what to do, to really seal the deal. It took all of her remaining energy, but she looked him in the eye and spat in his face. "I'm not scared of you, dickhead."

He snarled at her. "You will be." The skin between his eyes stretched out, and his mouth widened to reveal hundreds of sharp triangular teeth, in rows all the way down his throat. And right at the back of it, three lights, shining right at her.

Everything else fell away; noises, sensations. It was her and those three lights, and then there was nothing.

Her body felt far away, distant and irrelevant, and her eyes saw herself as a middle-aged woman. Hair longer now, brushing her shoulders, and wearing odd clothes. Jenny was with her, beautiful Jenny, but she was older, too, and wearing a similar style of clothing to Susie. They had rings on their ring fingers, and their hands in each other's, but they didn't look happy. Their knuckles were white. They were terrified.

The rest of the Losers were there, too. Bill standing protectively in front of a distraught Stan, Eddie and Richie standing next to each other as always, but with arms tightly linked together. Beverly, much taller than the other two girls, looking the bravest out of all of them. Mike, with a handgun instead of a bolt gun, and a detective's badge at his waist. Ben, much leaner now.

They were all horrified, looking at something Susie couldn't see. It was a fear she had felt before, but it felt much worse here.

But this wasn't real. A million miles away, Susie's hair was brushing on her face, and her wet clothes were dripping cold water down her legs, and her feet weren't touching the ground. Those lights had taken her, but they weren't real either. The clown wasn't dead yet, and neither was she. In the vision of the future, for she was sure that's what that was, Susie was alive. Married, even. So, these lights weren't real at all, and she wasn't going to be clown dinner.

It felt like an eternity, getting her toes to wiggle, then her fingers, then wrists and ankles, until she could move her whole arms and legs. Her eyes were open but still unseeing, and she felt the sensation of falling, but very slowly. Eventually, the tips of her feet felt the ground again, and her body slowly drifted down, collapsing on the wet floor.

Susie could move, and the numb sensations were receding enough that she could put weight on her leg muscles and stand. She pressed the backs of her hands against her eyes and rubbed them enough to see colors bursting. And when she opened them, her vision slowly fought the milky nothingness, until the sewers were clear as day to see.

She heard commotion around the other side of the toy mountain, and rounded the corner to see the Losers standing in front of something. Ben moved to the side, and a gap between them showed Pennywise, sat on the floor, clutching Bill's head in his arms, smothering him.

The Losers were yelling at it, but Susie strode past them, until she was standing right in front of Pennywise. "Uh, excuse me dipshit, thanks for the fortune telling, but I'd rather not miss out on the moment where we kill you. Give Bill back now."

She felt like a teacher scolding a student, and felt even stupider when she held out her hand to him expectantly, as if he was just going to pass the boy over.

The clown scrunched up his face looking at her, and shook his head. "No, I'll take him. I'll take _aaaaall_ of you, and I'll feast on your flesh as I feed on your fear."

"I hate to interrupt you," (actually, Susie didn't mind this at all,) "but we'll all taste disgusting, because newsflash: we aren't afraid of you anymore. You don't get any of us."

Pennywise huffed, and shook a finger mockingly at her. " _Or…_ You will just leave us be. I will take him, only him, and-"

'God, shut _up!_ No, okay? No deal! You don't get us and you don't get Bill. I don't know if you were listening to me, like, ten seconds ago, but we are actually going to murder you."

Richie stood next to her. "Ditto, asshole."

The clown looked between them, calculating the risk these kids played to his existence. "If I let him go, you all will leave. I will have my long rest, and you can grow and thrive-"

"FUCK! You're in no position to bargain. Jesus Christ!" Susie turned around to the rest of the group and huffed, rolling her eyes.

But Bill was still thinking it over. "T-take the deal, guys. I'm the one that dragged you all into this. I'm s-sorry."

Pennywise chuckled. "S-s-s-s-sorry!"

"Don't make fun of his stutter, you dick!" Susie rushed forward, done with talking, but an arm pulled her back.

Richie looked at her, shaking his head in a 'what-can-you-do' manner. "I told you, Bill. I fucking told you. I don't wanna die. It's your fault." He started pacing back and forth, counting off on his fingers. "You punch me in the face, you make me walk through shitty water, you brought me to a fucking crackhead house, and now…" He reached for a bat from the pile beside him. "I'm going to have to kill this fucking clown." Pennywise shoved Bill to the side, ready for an attack, as Richie screamed at him. "Welcome to the Losers Club, asshole!"

Richie took a swing, knocking the clown around, and Mike stabbed it in the mouth with a metal pole. Charred hands reached out, gripping onto the pole, grabbing at Mike's face. Stan grabbed another bar and slammed the hands away with it, going for another swing with the face of the painted lady came at him.

The clown retaliated by chasing after Mike with long, praying mantis claws. As Mike rolled away, Ben ran up to the clown and stabbed it through the back. It began convulsing, and turned on Ben with the face of a mummy, bandages pulling his face closer.

It was Bill who ripped the bandages away with a chain, and began whipping them at the clown, landing a few hits.

The clown scrambled on all fours, only to get hit in the face with Richie's bat, then Bill's chains, then Stan's metal bar. He began gagging and spewed black bile all over Eddie's face.

Eddie let some fall out of his mouth, before screaming at the clown. "I'M SO GONNA KILL YOU!" He kicked it in the face, and the clown fell back, morphing into Beverly's dad.

He taunted her, but Bev just screamed and stabbed it down the throat with her pole.

The white makeup and red hair slowly replaced the human face, until it was once again Pennywise in front of them, spitting out the pole.

Clearly injured, it pushed itself back towards the pipe that led downwards. Susie saw it was trying to escape, and rushed to cut off its path.

He backed into her and whirled around, groaning and whimpering.

She shook her head slowly at him. "If you're trying to escape to die alone, I want you to understand the irony first. You eat kids that you terrify so that they taste better. But you can't eat us, because we aren't afraid. Now you're the one who's afraid. Because you're going to starve." She leant down in front of the groveling face. "You know, self-cannibalism is always an option. Bet you'd taste great right about now."

He knocked her over, and leapt into the pipe, holding onto the edge. She stood up again, grabbing the metal bar of Stan, and held it over her head. Just as she was about to bring it down, the clown slipped further into the pipe, now hanging by his fingertips. Parts of his forehead and skull were coming away, floating into the air. It was as if he was dying from the inside.

Susie raised the pole again, a grimace on her face. Pennywise looked up at her, at the weapon in her hands and the determination in her eyes. He seemed thoughtful, like he was finally reaching an understanding. "Fear…" he whispered, and let go, falling away until Susie could no longer see him. She waited, but never heard him land.

She let the pole clank to the floor, and sighed. It was over.

"Well," Richie said, "I know what I'm doing for my summer experience essay."

The Losers began to hug, but Susie had taken to climbing the pile of junk. Jenny was still up there, and it felt like the more time it took to find her, the less likely she'd be okay when she was found. The group was calling out to her in confusion, but she was too focused on climbing the unstable sides of the mountain that she barely heard them.

Jenny was quite high up, and Susie was so focused on keeping her balance when climbing that she almost missed the absurd sight of what must have been 50 or so small bodies floating downwards towards the ground. She paused, glanced down at how far she had already gone, and sighed. All that for nothing.

Jenny's prone body was on the wet concrete by the time Susie got down again, and she jogged over to her with squeaky-wet sneakers. Her eyes were clouded over grey, and her skin was cold.

Susie could sense the Losers crowding around her but she couldn't stop her hands from shaking and her eyes from tearing up as she embraced her love.

Hands fell on her shoulders, and rubbed her back, as she whispered Jenny's name over and over, rocking her, then shaking her. It was all she could do not to get hysterical.

A collective gasp from the group around her made her open her eyes. Jenny's gorgeous green eyes were staring up at her, mouth open.

An involuntary outburst of relief came from Susie as Jenny began to speak. "What- What was that, Suse?"

Susie sat her up and hugged her tightly. "I don't know and I don't care, Jenny, I'm just so glad you're okay." She pulled back, searching. "Your necklace?"

Jenny grinned and dug a hand into her pocket, pulling out the familiar chain and ring. "Right here, wifey." She wiggled her eyebrows at Susie, which resulted in a raw-sounding laugh.

Wiping away the tears from her grimy face, she looked up at the rest of the losers.

Richie squinted and pushed his glasses up with the back of his hand, grinning. "Get a room, you two!"

Susie just rolled her eyes, latching onto Jenny's hand as they stood up. "We will once we get out of this damn sewer. And we can't go back the way I came. I hope you guys were keeping track."

The kids shared uneasy looks among themselves, and Susie groaned. "I just hope we get back in time for fucking Christmas, you idiots."

It was with laughter, solidarity, and a hint of triumph that the gang finally found their way into the sunlight again.


	10. Chapter 10

**This is super short bc it's the final chapter! Ahhh! Let me know if you want me to put my OC in any other stories, or if you want a new IT fanfic.**

 **Obviously I can't do a sequel now, but catch me in 2019 and I'm sure I'll be inspired!**

Beverly was going away. Susie didn't know for how long - neither did Beverly - but as the group all sat in a paddock near the Quarry, she couldn't help but feel an underlying finality. As if this was the end.

Some things were over now, of course. Even though the kids were certain a painted figure would haunt their dreams for a long time, at least they knew their town was safe. That they were safe.

Bill had been quiet, along with Stanley, while the rest bickered back and forth about their experiences. Both boys had suffered a harsh reality that would stick with them. Bill finally had to acknowledge the death of his baby brother, and Stan's eyes were clouding with the memory of a powerful jaw locking in around his face. That was something Susie was glad not to have witnessed, and although she had one hand clutched tightly onto Jenny's, she reached her other one out to gently squeeze Stan's shoulder.

None of them would ever be the same, not really. But they had won. Together.

He turned to her, blinking away the fog in his eyes, and gave her a solemn smile. "I'm so glad you're okay, Stan," Susie muttered. He nodded, but she could tell he didn't really feel okay at all.

Susie felt Jenny's hand slowly detach itself from hers. Jenny stood up, and the sun caught her red hair, blurring her face in golden light. Susie squinted in confusion.

"I have to go," Jenny said softly, "my parents need to know I'm okay." Her departing figure kept Susie's gaze, until Eddie stood up. And left. Richie, too.

An anxious pit opened inside Susie then, as if she would never see them again. She knew that wasn't true, of course it wasn't, but the superstitious girl in her refused to be the last one to leave.

She stood up slowly, wiping the dry grass from her pants. An unspoken tension lay between Bill, Ben, and Beverly, and Stan and Mike knew it too. She let out a quick laugh. The two boys looked up at her, Stan from right beside her, Mike from across her, and she cocked her head towards the three lovebirds, then away.

Both of them made awkward excuses to leave, not knowing that the other kids didn't take notice at all, and Susie led them away, back towards the town.

It was a fairly quiet walk for about two minutes, with only crickets and birds chirping away in the trees, but the sight of the main street made Susie pause.

Fighting a pressure in her eyes, she looked at the two boys. "What are we gonna do?" When she was met with unsure silence, she elaborated. "It's gone, but…" She shook her head helplessly. "Do we just go back to school? Act like nothing happened? God, it's like… It's like this whole thing that we can't even talk about because no one knows."

Susie could feel that she wasn't making any sense. She just took a deep breath and blinked hard for a few seconds, until Mike piped up.

"We do what we've always done. We stick together and we survive. Yes it was horrible, but my granddad always called us outsiders. He doesn't have any friends, just like I didn't before I met you guys. We can't change what happened, but we can at least appreciate the silver lining in all this. We're the Losers Club."

His words were exactly what she needed, yet she couldn't really appreciate them. Stan noticed the doubt in her eyes. "What's going on, Suse?"

She looked away, out across the street, where the citizens of Derry wandered around, totally ignorant. More than that, even. The people of Derry who chose to be ignorant.

Just because It was gone, didn't make this place safe. "Jenny wants us to finish school in Portland." Mike furrowed his brows, and Stan pulled back in confusion. She sighed. "She has an uncle we can stay with. People up there are…better about people like us. We could be together like we're supposed to."

Mike, wise beyond his years, as he likely always would be, spoke softly. "But you don't want to."

"I should want to. I do love her, you know. But I can't leave you guys. Not after everything. And I know this place is totally wrong, and half the people here would probably want me dead if they knew, but I guess something in me still loves this stupid town." She shrugged. "I don't know."

Suddenly, her piercing gaze into the town square was broken with an embrace from Stan. Her chin trembled as she wrapped her arms tightly around him, bending slightly to his height. She let out a shaky breath, and when they finally let go of each other, she was again suffocated by a hug, this one from Mike.

When they finally started walking again, towards where Mike had stashed his bike in the butcher's alleyway, the silence returned. It was a softer silence, more comforting and reassuring than the last one. A final tight hug was shared between Susie and Mike before he set off home, ringing out a little jingle on his bell as he turned the corner.

Stan and Susie roamed the streets towards his house, which was closer than hers, sharing jokes and stories, and shoving each other amiably. When they finally reached his front steps, she gave him a small hug.

"I would suggest we go hang out and get McDonalds tomorrow, but it's probably too soon."

He cracked a classic Stan smile, all cheek and no teeth, and opened the front door, waving goodbye until the last second, as it closed with a resounding thud.

Susie smiled to herself as she made the journey home by herself, and not once did she feel alone.


End file.
